Between Editions

Recently I got into a conversation with a gentleman about laws concerning alcoholic beverages here in El Dorado, and in Arkansas. He let me know, in so many words, that he was unhappy with not being able to stand in the street or on a sidewalk and drink a beer from its bottle. Several descriptive words were used, but two stood out the most. The first was “archaic,” and I’m inclined to agree. The second was “stupid.” So, I got curious and I found out that, stupid or not, we could be a lot worse off. Here are a few examples that I pulled from various websites. Anyone who’d like confirmation is more than welcome to e-mail me for the link.

CAVEAT: Today is not Wednesday. This is for real.

In Missouri, you don’t have a legal obligation to report seeing a dead body unless said body was your blood relative, you tampered with or moved the body, or unless you killed the person.

In Texas, you can’t shoot buffalo from the second story of a hotel.

In Michigan, it is illegal to use a decompression chamber to kill a dog.

According to our neighbors to the south in Louisiana, biting someone with your natural teeth is “simple assault,” while biting someone with your false teeth is “aggravated assault.”

Cap guns are outlawed in Rhode Island.

In Fort Madison, Iowa, the fire department is required to practice fire fighting for fifteen minutes before attending a fire.

Due to Ohio’s apparently sharply dropping whale population, it is illegal to fish for whales… but only on Sunday. Whaling is also illegal in Oklahoma.

In West Virginia, a person may not hold public office if he or she has ever participated in a duel.

In Ocean City, New York, pinball machines may not be played on Sunday.

And, finally, something with which we can all get on board. According to www.dumblaws.com, in New Mexico, idiots are not allowed to vote.

Next time you find yourself cursing our state’s forefathers as you bitterly pour your beer from a bottle to a cup so you can step outdoors, stop and think. It could be way worse.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 5:36 pm and is filed under Between Editions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.