Crackdown on Ties Knots Up Some Visitors to Island

Neckwear a nuisance? Bow ties a bother? No problem. Just head south to this resort island in the Gulf of Mexico, where ties have been made taboo.

Declaring the tie detrimental to the welfare of South Padre Island and its visitors, the town’s Board of Aldermen have approved a resolution making it illegal to wear ties.

“The very appearance of a tie causes a discordant note for our visitors, sometimes causing serious regression back to their humdrum and ordinary business lives,” the proclamation states.

It further decrees that police officers will issue a written warning to first offenders. Second-time offenders will be fined the amount of a “fine silk tie” and the offending neckwear will be confiscated and destroyed.

Mayor Ed Cyganiewicz, whose own tie was cut off after the proclamation was ratified, devised the idea after attending a tourism conference at which he invited participants to visit the island, but warned them not to pack a tie with their bathing suits and flip-flops.

It’s all in good fun, he notes, but not everyone is laughing.

Shortly after the proposal was approved earlier this month, some visitors who were attending a formal dinner on the island called Cyganiewicz to ask if they could wear ties to the function.

“They were concerned that maybe their ties were going to be confiscated or destroyed,” he said.

The Police Department also has received dozens of calls from visitors worried that a police officer is going to snip off their neckwear, said Chief E.E. Eunice.

“We’re kidding about cutting things off,” Eunice said, adding that officers actually plan to give promotional T-shirts to anyone they see wearing a tie.

While visitors may be worried, many of the island’s 2,000 residents are applauding the no-tie code.

“I don’t know anybody who wears a tie out here on the island. That’s why I live here,” said Tom Huebner, an attorney who also swears off socks and trousers from March through October. He prefers shorts.

“You can always spot a salesman or someone from off the island who comes over here to sell something,” Huebner said. “They’re always wearing a suit.”