Hello, Law Abiding Friends!
From the time we are very small, we are taught to have
respect for the law. Not that it's easy to have respect when the
law is incredibly stupid and inflexible. It is easy to pass a
law without giving any thought to what might happen next.
Prohibition in the U.S. is one good example - banning liquor
sales was supposed to bring on an era of moral and social
responsibility. In truth, it wouldn't be that far off to look at
the 1920's in the U.S. as one long, lawless, drunken party. So
much for mindless good intentions.
Some laws are designed to be broken, or, are so out of date
- or so stupid - that it makes you wonder just what the world the
politicians that passed it had in mind. And we've uncovered
thousands of these goofy rules over the past three years. [See
Void Where Prohibited By Law! #53 (08/17/97) and
Still Illegal! #109 (09/13/98)]. And new stupid statutes are
being passed all the time. All it takes for some legal insanity
to become a law is for some politician with a weird agenda of his
own to convince others that his idea isn't all that crazy. Even
when it is. There are many laws that convince you that these
folks have way too much time on their hands. Or possibly that
some of those politicians don't have any three brain cells that
are still communicating.
Special Thanks this week to all of our friends and
supporters, including: Sylvia Libin He; Kerry Miller; Laura Hong
Li; Jessica Leung and her Prairie Dogs; Jerry Taff; Patricia
Vanderveen; Ann Glomski; Dick Ginkowski, Joshua & Anna Brink;
Beth Butler; International Correspondent Nnamdi Elleh; Alison
Becwar; Carol Becwar; The Petersons; Nancy Wohlge; Yasmin &
Meredith Leischer; Catherine Cassidy and Hiroe Sugiyama. This
edition of SUNFUN is special since it marks the start of our
fourth year. I guess after three years of doing this thing, I'll
probably keep going until they pass a law against it!
Have A Legal Week,
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
FASHION POLICE...
--------------
- It is illegal in the State of Alabama to wear a fake
moustache that causes laughter in church.
- In Owensboro, Kentucky, it is against the law for any woman
to buy a hat without her husband's approval.
- It is legal to wear a full beard in Massachusetts, but
wearing a short beard or goatee in public requires a special
license.
- Women must have a permit to wear cosmetics in Morrisville,
Pennsylvania.
- In order to clean up Mohave County, Arizona, a local decree
declares that anyone caught stealing soap must wash himself
with it until it is completely used up.
- A local ordinance in Denver, Colorado make it illegal to
drive a black car on Sunday.
- Women cannot legally wear pants in Tucson, Arizona.
- It is illegal in San Francisco to wipe one's car with used
underwear.
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
ANTICIPATING O.J...
----------------
Written laws are like spiders' webs, and will like them
only entangle and hold the poor and weak, while the
rich and powerful easily break through them.
- Anacharis, quoted in Plutarch, The
lives of the Noble, about 600 B.C.
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ANIMAL INSTINCTS...
----------------
- In Fairbanks, Alaska, it is against the law to give
alcoholic beverages to a moose.
- Under California State Law, animals are banned from mating
publicly within 1,500 feet of a tavern, school, or place of
worship. There is no such ban on the behavior of people.
- Fayetteville, Arkansas must be heaven for mosquitoes; local
law there makes it illegal to kill "any living creature".
- San Francisco has a very strong leash law for pets. The law
specifically states that elephants cannot stroll down Market
Street unless they are on a leash.
- Hunting camels is prohibited in the State of Arizona.
- A local law in Columbus, Georgia makes it against the law to
carry a chicken by it's feet down Broadway [Street] on a
Sunday.
- In Little Rock, Arkansas it is unlawful to walk one's cow
down Main Street after 1:00 PM on Sunday.
- In Hopkinton, Massachusetts horses and cows are allowed on
the common, but dogs are prohibited.
- Colorado law makes it illegal to ride a horse while drunk.
- Donkeys cannot legally sleep in bathtubs in Arizona.
- In Normal, Illinois it isn't considered normal to make faces
at a dog. It is against the law and you can be fined.
- In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania it is illegal to bring a donkey
or a mule onto a trolley car.
- No one in Prescott, Arizona is permitted to ride their horse
up the stairs of the county court house.
- A local law in Chicago, Illinois makes it illegal to take a
french poodle to the opera.
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
ON CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
-----------------------
Lawmakers are frustrated - maybe we are all frustrated.
Much of television news has taken the easy path, never going in
depth, but just showing us a steady diet of crime and disaster.
The difference is, people in the legislature are more interested
in doing something about it.
A proposed law in the State of Georgia would have taxed
newspaper and television stories about crime. The proposal,
which got as far as the state's Ways and Means committee, would
levy a 10 per cent tax on revenue generated by crime stories.
How would the state figure out what money was generated by what
story? Representative Charles Sims, who proposed the tax, hadn't
figured that out quite yet. Nor did he have any suggestions on
how the bill might be enforced.
He did acknowledge that the legislation could have some
legal problems of its own, since the U.S. Constitution guarantees
the right of a free press in its first amendment. Other legal
experts agree.
"This is a bad, bad bill," said Teresa Nelson, executive
director of the Georgia American Civil Liberties Union.
(Reuters)
[ Now let me get this straight. They do
something stupid, so we try to do something
stupider? ]
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
DRIVING LEGALLY...
---------------
- According to a national law in Switzerland, you may not wash
your car or hang clothes outside to dry on a Sunday.
- A local ordinance in Baldwin Park, California states that no
one is allowed to ride a bicycle in a swimming pool.
- Australian law requires that all taxi cabs carry a bale of
hay in the trunk.
- In Connecticut, you can be stopped by the police for biking
over 65 miles per hour (105 km/h).
- Explaining the state of California's freeways? In that
state, no vehicle without a driver may exceed 60 miles per
hour.
- It is illegal in Massachusetts for a gorilla to ride in the
back seat of any car.
- In England, it is illegal for a lady to eat chocolates on a
public bus.
- Before starting your car in Denmark, you are required by law
to check lights, brakes, steering and honk your horn. You
must also make a visual check to make sure there are no
children underneath the car.
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
GO HOME, WE MEAN IT!
-------------------
France has some interesting laws - besides requiring that
70% of all music heard on the radio between 8AM and 8PM must be
written by French composers and forbidding kissing on trains, the
French have some fairly weird employment laws. One law, for
example, requires that workers in heavily unionized France work
an absolute maximum of 39 hours a week (the limit drops to 35
hours a week next year).
They aren't kidding about this, either; France's Employment
and Solidarity Ministry reported in June that it had found and
fined violators at many French companies. The illegal overtime
shut down by the ministry included a critical labor-management
bargaining session at the communications firm Alcatel and
overtime work by research scientists at Thomson-CSF. After the
recent raid and fines, Thomson agreed to lock all of its
buildings after 7 PM.
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
*S*E*X*
-------
- In Hartford, Connecticut, it is illegal for a man to kiss
his wife on Sunday.
- In Massachusetts, it is against the law for two people to
kiss in front of a church.
- In North Carolina, if a man and a woman who are not married
register together at a hotel, they are then considered
legally married.
- In the State of Iowa, kisses may last for as much as, but no
more than, five minutes.
- Women in Charlotte, North Carolina must have their bodies
covered by at least 16 yards (15.5 sq. meters) of cloth at
all times.
- Don't mess with Texas! A local law in Abilene makes it
illegal to idle or loiter anyplace within the corporate
limits of the city for the purpose of flirting or mashing.
- Taxi drivers in Massachusetts are prohibited from making
love in the front seat of their taxi during their shifts.
[Yes, the back seat is legal.]
- A court decision held that, under Illinois State law, it is
legal to protest naked in front of city hall as long as you
are under seventeen years of age and have legal permits.
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THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE - WAY OUT THERE!
--------------------------------------
Many people believe the government is hiding information
about crashed alien space ships in out of the way places around
the world. Of course, many people also believe that Elvis is
alive and the moon is made of green cheese, so I guess we
shouldn't worry too much about that.
But that's not to say that the U.S. government doesn't have
something to hide - if not aliens, they could hide this stupid
law:
Title 14, Section 1211 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, implemented on July 16, 1969, makes it
illegal for U.S. citizens to have any contact with
extraterrestrials or their vehicles.
[ "Sorry, E.T. You can't phone home from
here. Have you tried Canada?" ]
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
THAT'S JUST THE WAY WE DO THINGS AROUND HERE...
--------------------------------------------
- In Hood River, Oregon, you can't juggle without a license.
- It is illegal to eat mince pies on the 25th of December in
England.
- In Acworth, Georgia, all citizens are legally required to
own at least one rake.
- One-armed piano players are required by law to perform for
free in Iowa.
- It is illegal to place coins in your ears in Hawaii.
- It is a violation of the law to stroll down the street
playing a violin in Augusta, Maine.
- In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, snoring is prohibited
unless all bedroom windows are closed and securely locked.
- In Tampa Bay, Florida, it is illegal to eat cottage cheese
on Sunday after 6:00 P.M.
- It is illegal for a liquor store in Indiana to sell cold
soft drinks or milk.
- A city bylaw in Etobicoke, Ontario (Canada) states that no
more than 3.5 inches (8.9 cm) of water is allowed in a
bathtub.
- A local law in Longmeadow, Massachusetts makes it illegal
for two men to carry a bathtub across the town green.
[ What about three men? ]
- In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, no one is allowed to sleep on a
refrigerator.
- You had better not dry the dishes in Oregon - a state law
there specifies that all dishes must drip dry.
- It is illegal in Massachusetts to eat peanuts in church.
- Ordinance number 223 in Bexley, Ohio (09/09/1919) prohibits
the installation of slot machines in outhouses.
- Canada is very serious about health care; national law there
makes it illegal for citizens to remove bandages in public.
- It is legal for fireworks stores to sell fireworks in
Pennsylvania, but NOT to people from Pennsylvania.
- A city law in Montreal, Quebec (Canada) makes it illegal to
swear in French. You can legally cuss all you like in
English.
- Chico, California has a law that makes detonating a nuclear
device within the city limits illegal. Violators may be
fined up to $500.
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
THE TOPS OF THE NEWS...
-------------------
It's official - you can't go topless in Philipi, West
Virginia.
That applies to men, too.
It's been unusually hot in West Virginia this year,
prompting many men to take off their shirts while working outside
around town. But city police are watching, and they issued
tickets to at least two men recently who bared their torsos on
Main Street. A conviction on the charge of not wearing a shirt
could lead to a $500 fine plus court costs.
"Whether it's constitutional or not, I don't know," said
City Manager Joe Mattaliano, who also said that he did not know
just when the city ordinance went into effect. Mattaliano did
say that city officials aimed the law at youths with "pants
around their hips and no shirts and wearing bandannas around
their heads."
Others in Philipi had different opinions.
"Council doesn't have anything else to do," said Dennis
Stull, dean of students at Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi.
(AP)
[ Well, at least they didn't discriminate
against women... ]
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
COLOR YOUR WORLD - BUT WATCH IT!
-------------------------------
Think your neighbor's house is too colorful? Check it
against the color chart and see if it might be illegal. Last
November, the mayor of South Gate, California proposed a ban on
the colors "wild orange, rose, lavender, and turquoise" when used
in house painting.
But just a month later, the City Council in Cicero, Illinois
passed a law requiring builders to make suburban houses less
boring by mixing styles and colors. The reason for the new law?
Well, no one explained it better than city Councilor Joseph
Shetina: "[Y]ou go home drunk, and you'd never know which house
was yours."
[ And this is a common problem for you? ]
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
© 1999 by Bill Becwar. All Rights Reserved.
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