By John Howell Sr.
Batesville’s mayor and aldermen again during their September 4 meeting discussed an ordinance banning low-sagging pants and other behavior considered lewd and indecent.

Most of the talk centered around the amount of fines to be levied for first and subsequent offenses and whether the city’s work program could employ violators who could not pay the assessed fines. Aldermen also questioned assistant City Attorney Colmon Mitchell about whether the ordinance would stand up in court.

Mitchell had presented an ordinance draft based on a similar ordinance passed in Albany, Ga. that had sufficiently withstood court challenges, he said.

Photo evidence useful

“Do these officers carry a camera with them?” Mayor Jerry Autrey asked Deputy Police Chief Don Province.

“Yessir, they’ll have to,” Province replied. “The judge probably won’t allow convictions without pictures showing it.”

“Let’s get all our ducks in order before next week and maybe we can come up with something that will work,” Alderman Stan Harrison said after about 15 minutes’ discussion.

In other city legal business, aldermen voted to place $3,485 into the city’s general fund after the amount turned up in cash in a FedEx package.

Abandoned cash

 A FedEx employee had discovered a poorly wrapped, partially opened package with the cash visible in 2011, Mitchell said. FedEx does not allow cash transport and called police. The package was confiscated by police, and the city began abandoned property proceedings to claim it, the attorney said. After both addressee and addressor were notified and given a chance to claim the cash, neither responded. On Tuesday, aldermen voted unanimously to adopt a resolution declaring the cash abandoned property and placing it into the city general fund.