>>> february 14, 2002
Put that thing away

Males in Locust County, Pennsylvania can face fines of $300 and 90 days in jail if they happen to pop wood in public. On its way to the law books, county supervisors unanimously voted to accept an ordinance that makes public erections illegal.

Rolled in with the rules against public sex, nudity, genital fondling and “deviate sexual conduct,” the ordinance also wags a finger at the showing of “covered male genitals in a discernible turgid state.” Prior to voting, and for reasons he didn’t share, one supervisor suggested the word “covered” be removed from the text, but was talked out of it.

Children under 10 and breast-feeding women will be exempt from the law, and the county will cut men some slack. According to a county lawyer, the law will not be enforced for “normal occurrences.” :

—Scott Saxon