American town fines cohabiting families

A town in America's bible belt has come under flack for levying fines on families where the parents are unmarried. Black Jack, Missouri (yes, really!) has a town regulation which bans unmarried couples with more than one child from living there.

According to The Guardian, one family has already come under attack. Olivia Shelltrack and Fondray Loving (no - we didn't make those up either!) aren't married and have two children and one stepchild living with them. They face potential fines of up to $500 dollars a day.

The couple are planning to challenge the town's regulation, but it seems they'll get short shrift from the mayor's office. 'The character and stability of a city is not an accident, it is the result of years of hard work by the residents,' said the town's mayor Norman McCourt. 'We do not believe that an unmarried couple having children, residing in our community, is an appropriate standard that they wish to approve.'

'I don't think a piece of paper is going to validate our relationship,' Ms Shelltrack told The Guardian. 'We love each other, and our kids are happy, healthy individuals. You can't define family.'

The regulation itself isn't unusual in America. Banning people who aren't legally family from living together was initially drawn up to prevent student or boarding houses being set up on residential streets.

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