Drop your pants: mooning on the wax? - Citings - Brief Article

Reason, March, 2003 by Sara Rimensnyder

AN AUSTRALIAN MAN who mooned a police cruiser is defending his action in a Queensland court. Twenty-year-old Ernest Togo and his lawyer argue that bearing one's buttocks to uniformed officers is well within an Aussie's constitutional rights to political protest, reports CNN.

Political protest or not, Togo was charged with indecency. The case has been dragging through the courts since November.

The authorities are not amused by Togo's defense. "If we allowed everyone who wanted to drop their pants and moon police officers" to do so, the prosecutor told the court, "we [would be] undermining the authority of the police."

Meanwhile, in Manassas, Virginia, a bared American derriere is causing consternation. Radio personality Timothy Coburn faces up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine for mooning a camera in front of a "Welcome to Manassas" sign. Although Coburn thought he was merely promoting WIHT Hot 99.5's "Show Us Your Ass for a Boarding Pass" contest, city officials saw things differently. According to Allaccess.com, city officials say the prank "eroded years of efforts at establishing Manassas as a nice place to live and visit."