"Hats off is the rule"

[Dalexs]

An interesting tidbit in this mornings news...

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff | February 22, 2007
WEYMOUTH -- You can saunter into the Town Council chambers in ripped jeans and a faded Patriots T-shirt. Councilors will not lecture anyone for wearing muddy workboots during a public hearing. Even sequined bell-bottoms and tube tops are groovy.

In a 7-3 vote Tuesday, the council passed a rule banning hats from its chambers, saying the room is a formal setting that members of the public must respect by doffing their headgear.

The vote pitted those councilors who embraced the idea as a throwback to their childhood, when gentlemen removed their hats before entering a church or restaurant, against council members who saw the proposal as irrelevant compared with pressing municipal matters.

"I was always brought up to take my hat off," said Councilor at Large Michael Molisse, who voted for the ban. "It's a no-brainer."

Council president Michael Smart, who voted against the rule, said he believed it was somewhat elitist.

"I was not elected to enforce manners or etiquette," he said. "I would rather not place restrictions on residents before us. I would rather have them come in and listen intently."

Councilor Kenneth DiFazio, who also voted against the rule, said the council has greater responsibilities, such as dealing with the possible effects of a proposed 3,000-unit housing project near the South Weymouth Naval Air Station.

"Quite frankly, there are just bigger fish to fry right now than hats in the chambers," he said.

But the council will now have to tackle how to enforce their new regulation. One councilor has suggested walking up to the offender and asking him or her to take off the hat, but Smart said he is worried that doing so might embarrass the violator. Placing a sign somewhere in the room is another idea.

Molisse said he expects to encounter resistance, recalling a 90-year-old man who recently confronted him about the rule as he was leaving a local restaurant.

"He said, 'I'll wear my hat if I want to,' " Molisse said, laughing. "I said, 'You're old enough to do whatever you want to do.' "

Some teenagers interviewed in town yesterday also said they would rebel.

"We'll just show up wearing hats," said Dave Foote, 15, who said he owns 30 hats. "Make a statement."

His friend, Liam Harrington, 15, who wore a leopard-print Red Sox cap, said he wears caps because they look good and he could not imagine obeying such a ban. "Only if they're Yankees hats," he said. "You can't wear them."

The new regulation is rare at a time when dress codes are so relaxed that some people go to the office in jeans, said state Attorney General Martha Coakley.

But unless Weymouth residents can argue that it violates their constitutional rights, she said, the council has a right to establish the rule. The rule does not apply to people who wear hats because of a medical condition, or if it is part of a uniform, or they are observing a particular religion.

"I assume if they feel that to maintain the proper decorum, they don't want baseball caps, to some extent that's within their purview," Coakley said.

The rule was also established out of respect for the town's four Medal of Honor recipients, whose photos hang in the council chambers, supporters said.

Jayne Osgood, 46, said her 84-year-old father, a World War II veteran who was injured during the Battle of Iwo Jima, would appreciate the rule. "I don't think it's a reflection of anything other than respect," she said.

Osgood, who owns A1 Embroidery and Design on Middle Street, said she sent her children to parochial schools, thinking they would learn better manners. The rule, she said, would remind people of basic standards of etiquette.

"I just think that . . . a lot of that has gone by the wayside," Osgood said. "Maybe I'm old-fashioned."

Marjorie Smith, 82, said she believes there are better ways to ensure decorum.

"Let's worry about language or saying curses," she said.

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.

 

[jamespowers]

Does that kid have 30 hats or 30 caps? I am betting the latter. Perfect headgear for his mentality.
Good thing he won't ever meet up with my great grandmother. She wouldn't even ask. It would just fly off his stump head.

Regards,

J

 

[The Wingnut]

Liam Harrington, 15, who wore a leopard-print Red Sox cap, said he wears caps because they look good

...words fail me.

 

[Dr Trinidad]

At 15 I would bet on caps.

 

[Aerol]

In defense of the Council

Those of us who live in urban areas know that how a baseball cap is worn (brim left, brim right, etc.) can often signify gang membership. Many places of business have, in order to decrease gang presence, decreed that all hats and caps must be removed. While that doesn't seem to be the case here, a little tolerance is needed on our part.

Besides which, as my first grade teacher taught me more decades ago than I care to think about, "Hats off in a public building."

 

[photobyalan]

Those of us who live in urban areas know that how a baseball cap is worn (brim left, brim right, etc.) can often signify gang membership.

As far as I'm concerned, wearing a baseball cap with the brim left, right, or turned around backwards (unless you are a catcher, of course) usually signifies membership in the gang known as morons.

 

[Pilgrim]

As far as I'm concerned, it's none of their business. But having taken the action, they need to either enforce it or abolish the rule.

I think they're right that they're going beck 50 years - they're also making a rule out of something that was a polite custom and didn't even require a rule 50 years ago.

I spent 13 years at Texas A&M University, where gentlemen do NOT wear hats inside the Memorial Student Center. Those who forget to remove their hats are reminded, and those who ignore the reminders are assisted in removing them.

"For more than 55 years the Memorial Student Center has been a living memorial, a living room, and a living tradition at Texas A&M. "

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

As far as I'm concerned, wearing a baseball cap with the brim left, right, or turned around backwards (unless you are a catcher, of course) usually signifies membership in the gang known as morons.

I couldnt have said it better myself.

 

[jamespowers]

As far as I'm concerned, wearing a baseball cap with the brim left, right, or turned around backwards (unless you are a catcher, of course) usually signifies membership in the gang known as morons.

Hmmmm.... The Moron Gang. Are those the ones that also wear pajama bottoms and slippers?

Regards,

J

 

[Russ]

The rule does not apply to people who wear hats because of a medical condition, or if it is part of a uniform, or they are observing a particular religion.

That last one looks like a big loophole. Some folks practically worship their hats. It's just a matter of organization.

 

[shoeshineboy]

am I missing something here ??? It's early, before coffee morning...perhaps I am reading this wrong..

"In a 7-3 vote Tuesday, the council passed a rule banning hats from its chambers, saying the room is a formal setting that members of the public must respect by doffing their headgear."

Did they vote on banning headgear in the chambers ? or all over town...???

If it is just the chambers, why would the kids care anyway, do they show up at the town meetings ?

mark the shoeshine boy

 

[Frederick Chook]

Pfft. I'm against that.
A: The last thing we should be doing is discouraging people from taking an interest in the workings of their government. Democracy can't function if people don't know what the government is doing.

B: The second-last thing we should be doing is discouraging people from wearing hats.

C: A public place is EXACTLY the right place to be wearing a hat. You take hats off in private places, like in bed. Or in the bath.

D: The mere fact that they have a religious exemption shows that, while Anglo-Christian traditions think it more proper to be hatless in a ceremonial, official, formal or intimate environment, maaaaaany many many other traditions consider covering the head more proper.

 

[Feraud]

Society seems to have reached an impasse with regards to rules, regulations, and customs from "the old days".
We live in a time were people think and question the world around them. The USA is a country made up of different peoples with different customs.
Does removing a hat indoors make one more polite, or show respect to the building you are in?
Is the enforcing of regional (or National) customs a form of intellectual and social servitute?
I read very interesting ideas on Libertarianism in this Fedora Lounge thread and wonder how a thinking man reconciles the habits and manners of "the old days" with the world we live in today.

 

[photobyalan]

OK, I'm taking off my smart-arse cap and putting on my thinking cap.

I agree with the council's decision.

This is about respect. Respect for tradition, our system of government and its institutions. When a man removes his hat for a woman, it is a sign of respect. When you remove your hat upon entering someone else's home or office, you are showing respect to them.

Laugh if you will, but lack of respect is a HUGE problem in the world today. We drive like maniacs, cutting other people off in traffic and then making obscene gestures at them when they object to it. People on buses and subways don't give up their seats to the elderly or infirm. People use foul language at full volume without regard to who is within earshot. Women are regularly called "ho" and "bitch" and no one seems to mind. Every time these things happen, we all lose just a little bit of our humanity.

Frederick, I am appalled. Asking people to remove their hats in a council chamber is in no way discouraging them from taking an interest in the workings of government. I also don't see how such a rule would discourage people from wearing hats. As a hat wearer, I expect to take my hat off indoors unless I am in a hallway, stairwell, lobby, atrium, store or restroom. I would never dream of not wearing a hat just because I was going to have to take it off when I entered a particular room. And if you consider a council chamber a "public place" where a hat should be worn, try wearing your hat in a court of law (also a public place). Refuse to remove it and you might just end up in jail. Really.

 

[jamespowers]

OK, I'm taking off my smart-arse cap and putting on my thinking cap.

I agree with the council's decision.

This is about respect. Respect for tradition, our system of government and its institutions. When a man removes his hat for a woman, it is a sign of respect. When you remove your hat upon entering someone else's home or office, you are showing respect to them.

Laugh if you will, but lack of respect is a HUGE problem in the world today. We drive like maniacs, cutting other people off in traffic and then making obscene gestures at them when they object to it. People on buses and subways don't give up their seats to the elderly or infirm. People use foul language at full volume without regard to who is within earshot. Women are regularly called "ho" and "bitch" and no one seems to mind. Every time these things happen, we all lose just a little bit of our humanity.

Frederick, I am appalled. Asking people to remove their hats in a council chamber is in no way discouraging them from taking an interest in the workings of government. I also don't see how such a rule would discourage people from wearing hats. As a hat wearer, I expect to take my hat off indoors unless I am in a hallway, stairwell, lobby, atrium, store or restroom. I would never dream of not wearing a hat just because I was going to have to take it off when I entered a particular room. And if you consider a council chamber a "public place" where a hat should be worn, try wearing your hat in a court of law (also a public place). Refuse to remove it and you might just end up in jail. Really.

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap