-------------------- And always remember....when life hands you Lemons, ask for tequila and salt and call me over !!!!! Posts: 521 | From: St. Louis, MO | Registered: Mar 2006
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Some of these have to be outdated or not enforced. I scrolled to NJ (obviously because I live here) and I couldn't believe that some of them are true.
-------------------- Licorice of the Lord! This is classy stuff...Should I be wearing a tie? Or, at least, pants? ~I'mNotDedalus Posts: 975 | From: New Jersey | Registered: Jun 2005
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I found that a good part of the Oregon list is just duplicates, and some that are listed as just "[blank] is not allowed" are listed further down as being for a specific city. I find most of them rather difficult to believe, anyway. Who the hell cares if you don't let your dishes drip dry?
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Some of these are weird only because they are very carefully worded.
For example under Washington it says that in Bremerton you can't shuck peanuts in the street. If you think about it, that's really just an anti-littering ordinance (which probably only mentions peanut shells, if at all, as an example).
And some of the laws have long since been repealed--but it wouldn't be funny if they admitted that, so the site makes it sound as if they're still on the books.
I find sites like this more irritating than funny these days.
Seaboe
-------------------- Education is not the filling of a hard drive, but the lighting of a bulb. -- Yeats via Esprise Me Posts: 5562 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jun 2005
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Well let's see, between my hubby and myself we've broken 4 laws in Florida (mostly NFBSK ), I've broken 1 law in Illinois (not calling my hubby Master before we were married), I've broken 2 in Nebraska and finally 1 in Nevada (something about doing the deed without a condom...). I'm a rebel I tells ya!
Pixie"rebel without a clue"chic
ETA: the NFBSK stuff from Florida is not something that was done for sadness
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I'm with you on that, Seaboe and NeeCD. For Oklahoma, some of them were listed several times. If the proofreading isn't better than that, I don't trust the site for accuracy, either. There was a thread a while back about the wearing of New York Jets shirts in Ada, Oklahoma being illegal. A snopester called the DA's, or some other official's, office there and was told it was absolutely not true.
ETA: I found the thread. Scroll down and read the first post by rogue. I misremembered. It was an e-mail exchange, involving the Ada city attorney's office, not a telephone call to the DA's office.
-------------------- "This air we're breathing. Oxygen, isn't it?"~I’mNotDedalus, impersonating Vincent D’Onofrio.|"Sometimes trying to communicate can be like walking through a minefield."~wanderwoman "Give people a break. It's not easy doing a life."~Joshua Halberstam Posts: 4020 | From: Oklahoma | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote: • Alhambra: You cannot leave your car on the street overnight without the proper permit.
That makes sense. A lot of cities have laws like this for certain neighborhoods, why not the whole city?
quote:• A server in California can be convicted of selling to a minor if the purchaser uses a false or altered ID to buy the alcohol.
This makes sense too- fake IDs are a booming business, and bar staff should be able to tell the difference.
quote:• Bathhouses are against the law.
This probably means the type of bathhouses where promiscuous homosexual sex helped to spread AIDS and other STDs.
quote:• Burlingame: It is illegal to spit, except on baseball diamonds; Carmel Ice cream may not be eaten while standing on the sidewalk. (Repealed when Clint Eastwood was mayor); Women may not wear high heels while in the city limits.
All aimed at keeping the sidewalks and streets clean and tourist friendly. Not my cup of tea, but not exactly incomprehensible either.
quote:• California only fairly recently legalized the sale of alcoholic beverages in nudist colonies.
I assume nudist colonies are considered entertainment establishments and therefore some kind of liquor licensing process would have to be undergone. *snip two repeats*
quote:• In Los Angeles courts it is illegal to cry on the witness stand.
I do not believe this and I don't see how it could be enforced.
quote:• In 1930, the City Council of Ontario passed an ordinance forbidding roosters to crow within the city limits.
What's so strange about that? Lots of people keep chickens in their yards, and roosters make a lot of noise.
quote:• In an animal shelter, lizards and snakes are treated under the same guidelines as cats and dogs.
What kind of guidelines? Probably not care guidelines so much as destruction and disposal guidelines. *snip two more repeats*
quote:• In California it is illegal to have caller ID
Patently false.
quote:• In California you may not set a mouse trap without a hunting license.
I think this was covered on the main page but if it wasn't I can assure you this law is not enforced.
quote:• In California, selling a gold piece without tooth marks in it is considered forgery.
Perhaps at one time.
quote:• In Los Angeles a man is legally entitled to beat his wife with a leather belt or strap, but the belt can't be wider than 2 inches, unless he has his wife's consent to beat her with a wider strap. Consent should be given prior to the event, as is carefully stipulated.
This may still be on the books but domestic abuse is prosecuted the same in LA as everywhere else.
quote:• In San Francisco it's illegal to play poker in public or gamble in a barricaded room.
This does not strike me as being any stranger than any other gambling laws.
quote:• Many animals are illegal to own as pets, including snails, sloths, and elephants. • Molesting butterflies can result in a $500 fine.
I think these have to do with protecting either endangered species or native wildlife.
quote:• Persons classified as "ugly" may not walk down any street.
Not true.
Sooooo many repeats.
-------------------- Officially Heartless Posts: 3065 | From: The Montgomery County of the West Coast- Berkeley, CA | Registered: Nov 2005
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I edited that to make it shorter but it's still pretty long. Sorry.
-------------------- Officially Heartless Posts: 3065 | From: The Montgomery County of the West Coast- Berkeley, CA | Registered: Nov 2005
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I've broken a few Wisconsin ones... none worth any fun though. Never any in Georgia. I've broken one law in Kansas- I have indeed, placed ice cream on a cherry pie. In Missouri, I've taken out the trash with an empty alcoholic beverage container in it, and I was under 21. I've broken two NFBSK laws in North Carolina. My SIL better stop singing karaoke, because it says its illegal to sing off-key in North Carolina.
I wonder what the statute of limitations is on the two NC NFBSK laws are...
-------------------- "Is it ME? Am I a MAGNET for these idiots?"~Pearl Forrester MST3K Die-Hard Engineers, Big Red One my Dad's website "Must be a 'snopes' thing..." ~my entire family when I try to explain something. Posts: 4524 | From: South of Madison, Wisconsin | Registered: May 2005
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quote:• In California you may not set a mouse trap without a hunting license.
I think this was covered on the main page but if it wasn't I can assure you this law is not enforced.
It is here. That page really illustrates the problem with these lists that they are often based upon a very flawed interpretation of the law if upon any law at all.
-------------------- That Psammead, That Psammead, I do not like that Psammead. Posts: 234 | From: Calgary, AB, Canada | Registered: Aug 2005
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This Illinois law is specifically for my neighborhood:
quote:• Pullman: It is illegal to drink beer out of a bucket while sitting on the curb; It is forbidden to fish while sitting on a giraffe's neck; 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.
Well, shit. There goes my weekend plans.
-------------------- "You better respect the Rap or the Rap won't respect you." Ledatru Posts: 1141 | From: Chicago, IL | Registered: May 2005
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Let's see... In Florida, I've broken four laws.
In Virginia I've broken 8 laws (gasp!).
quote: • In Radford, VA you are not allowed to spit, loogie, puke or urinate on the streets.
Now why don't they have any cops on my school's campus to actually UPHOLD that law? Hearing/seeing people spit makes me cringe...*cringes* Just thinking about it makes me cringe.
ETA: Oh my DOYC! I just looked up the penalty for the sodomy law (that was repealed in June 2003), and it's HARSH.
quote:For Class 6 felonies, a term of imprisonment of not less than one year nor more than five years, or in the discretion of the jury or the court trying the case without a jury, confinement in jail for not more than twelve months and a fine of not more than $2,500, either or both
-------------------- My mom, about my nervousness with Jeopardy!: "Don't worry about it. Just get drunk and you'll do fine." Blog Just call me Mickey 2 Posts: 3295 | From: Radford, VA/Herndon, VA/Orlando, FL | Registered: Jan 2006
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I have never been able to find, much less verify, any of the ones listed for Wyoming. This list actually misses two laws that usually show up on these lists that actually can be verified. One has to do with it being illegal to go skiing while drunk and the other is that is is illegal to allow someone who is drunk into a mine or sawmill.
Noemi
-------------------- Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult. My blog, no guarantees about witty or intelligent content. My current projects. Coveted Beads <---- our eBay store, new items being added somewhat regularly Posts: 8418 | From: Wyoming | Registered: Feb 2002
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Well, looking at some of VA's laws its clear that either these laws aren't on the books anymore, are not enforced, or don't exist..
Considering the somewhat poor listing and proofreading, and lack of any citations, I'm tempted to think many are just invented by somebody, or at least taken out of context (as some examples above suggest).
-------------------- "All people are responsible for the good that they didn't do" Posts: 4774 | From: Virginia | Registered: Feb 2004
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AFA I know, the TX laws about no phallic toys or dildos is still in effect. The stupid thing is, there are adult stores that sell stuff like that (battery-operated & everything) but because they refer to them as 'novelties', its legal. A woman was arrested sometime in the last few years for showing how to use a sex toy (she was a home party person). The case was settled out of court for very little money but it made big news, even on this board.
-------------------- I cannot live without books-Thomas Jefferson *~* A child educated only at school is an uneducated child - George Santayana I'm going to pummel you with such zeal, Buddha will explode! *~* Never miss a good chance to shut up - Will Rogers Posts: 6585 | From: Dallas/Fort Worth, TX | Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Morgaine La Raq Star: ... A woman was arrested sometime in the last few years for showing how to use a sex toy (she was a home party person). ....
I'll say she was!
-------------------- "No hard feelin's and HOPpy New Year!"--Walt Kelly Hear what you're missing: ARTC podcasts! http://artcpodcast.org/ Posts: 7581 | From: Gainesville, Georgia | Registered: Jun 2000
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quote:• In West Virginia, it is legal for one to take roadkill home for dinner
I'm pretty sure this is true and not as weird as it might sound. IIRC from hunting safety class, you still have to check in a deer with the DNR, but you can request to keep the carcass if you want. The officer actually said that in many cases a roadkill deer will taste better than one that has been shot, due to less adrenaline in the tissue. I have no idea if it was a joke or not, but he said DNR officers do sometimes have recent roadkill butchered. Conceivably, one could hit a deer or bear with enough force to kill it without making the meat unusable.
Now let's see what I may have broken:
West Virginia: -It is illegal to spit on any sidewalk which women may walk down.
South Carolina: - Every adult male must bring a rifle to church on Sunday in order to ward off Indian attacks. (My Bible College had a lot of rules, but I'm pretty sure keeping that law would break about a dozen School Standards.) -It is illegal to display a confederate flag on a courthouse. (Patently false unless they've changed it since I lived there. Confederate Flags fly from most public buildings, including the capital. - Musical instruments may not be sold on Sunday. (Does buying cymbals count?) -No work may be done on Sunday. I was a dishwasher in the school cafeteria. I had a Sunday shift. The school did, however have a policy against doing homework on Sundays.
Pennsylvania: -If a motorist sees a horse coming down the road, the driver must pull off to the side of the road and cover the vehicle with canvas. If the horse is still scared the driver must get out of his car and take it apart until the horse isn't scared anymore. (Find that one incredibly hard to believe.) -No man may purchase alcohol without written consent from his wife. - Tarentum: Horses are not to be tied to parking meters. (Didn't break this one, but interestingly enough, my current town in WV has hitching posts next to parking meters. They were put in during a historical renovation of downtown. -You may not sing in the bathtub. (Shower okay?) -• It is illegal to fish for whales on Sunday. • It is illegal to get a fish drunk. (so can you get a whale drunk since it's not a fish?) -The Ohio driver's education manual states that you must honk the horn whenever you pass another car. -You cannot eat a doughnut and walk backwards on a city street.
-------------------- "If I didn't see it and didn't know it was a real news report, I wouldn't believe it. I mean, how nutty can you get?"-Pat Robertson Oct 26, 2006. Posts: 2936 | From: Mean Streets of West Virginia | Registered: Feb 2003
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Here's a few from the two states I know the best:
Florida
quote:Apparently with an exaggerated idea of the laws of thermal dynamics, the city council of West Palm Beach, Fla., once decreed that the roofs of all outhouses be fireproof.
Florida most likely requires reasonable fireproofing measures on all external structures, which would include outhouses.
quote:• Big Pine Key: It is illegal to molest a Key deer; If caught one will be fined or will have to go to jail.
Key Deer are an endangered species.
quote:• Cape Coral: It is against the city ordinance to hang your clothes outside on a clothesline; It it illegal to park a pick-up truck in your driveway or in front of your house on the street (This law is limited to only those who do not own the house).
Right laws, wrong city: these are true in Coral Gables, not Cape Coral (and the Gables law makes no distinction about ownership of a house: if you have a pick-up truck, it must go in the garage.)
quote:• Florida deals with its prostitution problem by giving prostitutes spending money, a five-year banishment, and a bus ticket out of town.
This was true for North Miami Beach in the late 80's (I remember when it passed- the city council got a lot of ridicule for it.) I'm pretty sure it has been repealed since.
quote:• Florida prohibits topless walking or running within a 150 foot zone between the beach and the street.
True for Miami Beach (South Beach); I've never seen anyone violate it (most beachgoers are smart enough to cover up before they approach Ocean Drive ) so I don't know how strictly it would be enforced.
quote:• In Florida it is illegal to fish while driving across a bridge.
Most bridges are non-fishing zones; enforcement of this is sporadic.
quote:• Miami Shores Village, Fla., has for years required that all goods made in Communist countries and offered for sale in Miami Shores Village be clearly marked as such. The ordinance notes that such goods are often marked in a "false, misleading or inadequate manner, to hide their Communist origins."
Anyone with any knowledge of reactionary south Florida politics would have no problem believing this to be true.
quote:• Key West: Chickens are considered a 'protected species'.
Key West did have a big feral chicken problem for a while (partially due to laws that required special licenses for trapping chickens, not because of any "protected species" statutes). Now the problem down there is with feral iguanas.
quote:• Oral sex is illegal.
Not anymore.
-------------------- Is here no telephone? Posts: 323 | From: Brooklyn, NY | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote: • In New York City, it's illegal to throw swill into the street.
. New Yorkers are taught about the "good old days" in the 19th century, when pigs roamed the streets of lower Manhattan. I hope this law is still on the books, as I do not pine for those days.
quote: • In Staten Island, New York, It is illegal for a father to call his son a "faggot" or "queer" in an effort to curb "girlie behavior."
I'm pretty sure this one has appeared on this board before. IIRC, it's an exaggeration of a motion the Staten Island council passed several years ago to curb gay bashing.
quote: • It is illegal to jump off the Empire State building.
It's illegal to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge as well.
quote: • It's illegal in New York to start any kind of public performance, show, play, game or what have you, until after 1:05 p.m.
I've done shows with 12 noon start times, and I've never heard about this law.
quote: • Jaywalking is legal, as long as it's not diagonal. That is, you can cross the street out of the crosswalk, but you can't cross a street diagonally.
Mayor Rudy tried implementing a strict anti-jaywalking law near Radio City Music Hall in 1999. It forbid both diagonal jaywalking and crossing out of the crosswalk. It was widely ridiculed and Mayor Bloomberg has not enforced it (but I think it is still on the books.)
quote: • New York and a handful of other states require that toilets be evenly divided among men and women in public theaters or arenas.
True. I remember this law coming into play when they remodeled Avery Fisher Hall several years ago.
quote: • New York City may be the theater capital of the country, but it's illegal to have a puppet show in your window and a violation can land you in the snoozer for 30 days.
This applies to not just puppet shows, but any sort of "street window" performance (performance art, film screenings, etc). You need to get the proper permits or the police will shut you down.
quote: • The New York City Transit Authority has ruled that women can ride the city subways topless. New York law dictates that if a man can be somewhere without a shirt, a woman gets the same right. The decision came after arrests of women testing the ordinance on the subways. A transit police spokesman said they would comply with the new rule, but "if they were violating any other rules, like sitting on a subway bench topless smoking a cigarette, then we would take action." Smoking is not allowed in the subways.
All true. It is also legal for a woman to be "incidentally" (not indecently!) topless in public, such as in Washington Square Park on the Saturday just before the annual 5th Avenue Gay Rights March...
quote: • To cut down on its once-horrific graffiti problem, New York City several years ago made it illegal to carry an open can of spray paint.
NYC has very strict anti-spraypaint laws. I recently purchased spray paint from Home Depot, and had to show my ID to two different store employees before they opened up the locked spray paint rack and handed me my bottle of glossy black.
quote: • The New York State Senate passed a resolution to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Brooklyn Dodgers' 1955 world championship and expressed a longing that someday the Dodgers will return to "their one and only true home."
True. Although the way the Mets played today, I can't say I'm missing the Dodgers much...
-------------------- Is here no telephone? Posts: 323 | From: Brooklyn, NY | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Chicago: Law forbids eating in a place that is on fire
Don't give me no rules, CrazyLaws.com; All I got is rules!
-------------------- The salty fragrance of L’EauD’I’mNotDedalus - made entirely of and entirely for sea turtles. Posts: 1983 | From: Chicagoland, IL | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:• Temecula: Ducks have the right of way to cross Rancho California St. at all times.
Somehow, I don't doubt that one. The duck pond is on one side of the corner of Rancho Cal and Ynez, and on the other three corners of said intersection, there's lots of restaurants and shops.
Traffic in that intersection SUCKS. It's a real pain in the ass to get through said intersection, and from what Mr. K tells me (he's lived in this area of California for, oh, 14 years now, and in California period all his life), there would occasionally be duck fatalities on Rancho Cal, and Ynez.
Hmmm....I might have to ask the Temecula authorities whether or not that's true....
-------------------- Beware corporate zombies! They will purchase your brain on E-Bay! Posts: 2310 | From: California | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Permitting diners to take home an unfinished bottle of alcohol beverage, rather than consuming it all before leaving to prevent "waste," encourages moderation and discourages intoxication. However, this is prohibited in Michigan.
Not since 2005.
quote:Public Act 21 (2005) allows an unfinished bottle of wine to be removed from a licensee if the wine was purchased with a meal and re-corked level with the lip of the bottle.
James Powell
Posts: 588 | From: Michigan | Registered: Jan 2003
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quote:Alhambra: You cannot leave your car on the street overnight without the proper permit.
Having stayed in Alhambra many times, I can verify that this one is true. It wasn't hard to get the proper permit. My fiance (who grew up there) called a phone number, gave the license plate number a little more info, and all was good.
Posts: 13 | From: Springfield, OR | Registered: Apr 2004
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Gee..I wonder if I can use that as an argument for that speeding ticket I got..hmm..
-------------------- Tom, we're flying a giant robot into space! "Safe" isn't the first word that springs to mind! - Colleen, Last Hope, Vol.2 Posts: 2710 | From: Meet me in St. Louis | Registered: Mar 2004
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Here are the ones I would have broken if I had been in that city at the time:
Masks may not be worn in public.
It is considered an offense to open an umbrella on a street, for fear of it spooking horses.
It is illegal for men and women over the age of 18 to have less than one missing tooth visible when smiling. (Huh??? It's illegal to have all your teeth intact?)
Women may not wear pants.
It is illegal to kill "any living creature". (I'm sorry to all you dead insects!)
Little Rock: Dogs may not bark after 6 PM.;
Burlingame: It is illegal to spit, except on baseball diamonds
Riverside, California, kissing on the lips, unless both parties wipe their lips with carbonized rose water, is against the local health ordinance.
San Francisco, it's illegal to beat a rug in front of your house.
San Jose: It is illegal to have more than two cats or dogs.
Ok sorry, I gave up after California-- just too many!
-------------------- Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. Posts: 2110 | From: Chicago, IL | Registered: Jul 2000
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Gee..I wonder if I can use that as an argument for that speeding ticket I got..hmm..
Let me know if it works....
-------------------- And always remember....when life hands you Lemons, ask for tequila and salt and call me over !!!!! Posts: 521 | From: St. Louis, MO | Registered: Mar 2006
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I've broken a whopping nine laws in my home state of SC. I leave it to everyone to guess which ones.
quote:Originally posted by Elwood: South Carolina: -It is illegal to display a confederate flag on a courthouse. (Patently false unless they've changed it since I lived there. Confederate Flags fly from most public buildings, including the capital.
Unfourtunately, the flag was taken down on April 12 2000 by a vote of 36-7.
-------------------- Heisenberg may have slept here.
I got an idea... an idea so smart my head would explode if I even began to know what I was talking about. Posts: 291 | From: Greenville, SC | Registered: Apr 2005
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I noticed that about 1/4 of the Wisconsin ones involve dairy products. The one about requiring a license to make cheese and a master license to mae Limburger cheese was repeated three times, so it must be pretty important.
glass "cheesehead" papaya
Posts: 544 | From: Onalaska, WI | Registered: Nov 2005
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• Arkansas must be pronounced "Arkansaw" • It's illegal to mispronounce the name of the state of Arkansas in that state.
I've seen it on several similar sites before. Is ther actually a law that makes it illegal (as in: a criminal offence) to mispronounce the states name, or is it more a rule about the correct pronounciation?
And what about this one:
quote:• The Arkansas legislature passed a law that states that the Arkansas River can rise no higher than to the Main Street bridge in Little Rock.
... or else?
Don Enrico
-------------------- My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling, but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places. - Pooh Bear Posts: 2209 | From: Hamburg, Germany | Registered: Oct 2004
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Wrong. Governor Taft signed a law creating a specific right to nurse anywhere a woman is allowed to enter. (2005)
quote:The Ohio driver's education manual states that you must honk the horn whenever you pass another car.
Even more outdated than the breastfeeding one? I had to take the drivers test in 2002 and there was nothing like that in it.
So I might think that website is more a collection of "Funny or silly laws that once existed".
-------------------- ~Reality, the refuge of those who fail in RPGs~ aka Darkfist Dragon -==(UDIC)==- Posts: 334 | From: Lancaster, Ohio | Registered: Dec 2005
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DemonWolf
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
quote:Originally posted by ThistleSquall:
quote: A server in California can be convicted of selling to a minor if the purchaser uses a false or altered ID to buy the alcohol.
This makes sense too- fake IDs are a booming business, and bar staff should be able to tell the difference.
Also, it could be the wording of the law. IIRC from my alcohol serving class ten years ago, the law in MA is that a patron must have proper ID while drinking and that a server may not serve anyone under age or without ID, but the law does not require me to check your ID. The penalty for serving a person with out ID or who is under age is quite stiff.
-------------------- Friends are like skittles: they come in many colors, and some are fruity!
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), I've broken 1 law in Illinois (not calling my hubby Master before we were married), I've broken 2 in Nebraska and finally 1 in Nevada (something about doing the deed without a condom...). I'm a rebel I tells ya!
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I misremembered. It was an e-mail exchange, involving the Ada city attorney's office, not a telephone call to the DA's office.
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I just looked up the penalty for the sodomy law (that was repealed in June 2003), and it's HARSH.
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