Herding Animals in Texas

Abilene, Texas, a city famous for its old time cattle drives, stopped the drives in 1965. City ordinance section 6-12, passed in 1965, provides that "The driving of herds of animals, other than dogs, cats or other domesticated pets, along or upon any street, avenue or alley of the city is hereby prohibited."

I would like to see someone driving a herd of cats through Abilene, or any other city, for that matter.

Serious About Roller Skating

Ansonia, Connecticut, is serious about regulating roller skating.

Under Section 22-1 of the Municipal Code of Ordinances, public roller skating rinks may ONLY be on the first floor of a building. Section 22-2 states that the chief of police may allow a licensed rink to be on another floor, however.

Section 22-8 requires a policeman to be on duty in a licensed roller skating rink. They must be rowdier than skating rinks I've seen.

Section 22-9 specifies the type of skates that may be used. I wonder if you would be ejected if you bring your own skates and they don't meet specs.

Finally, Section 22-10 requires a weekly fire drill.

And This is Needed Why?

Ada, Oklahoma requires anyone cleaning a sanitary sewer in the city to file a bond with the city. (Sec. 42-501. Sewer cleaner's bond)

Define "Buttocks"

Define the word "buttocks." Webster's defines "buttock" as "1. the back of a hip that forms one of the fleshy parts on which a person sits; 2. the seat of the body." Simple enough, right?

Quincy, Florida, has ordinances relating to how much of a person's body may be exposed without being considered unlawful or nudity, which is not unusual. Quincy also has a section of their code that defines "buttocks," and it is worth quoting, if only to show how much time someone spent on this . . .

"(c) Buttocks. (For a short general description see the last sentence of this subsection.) The area at the rear of the human body (sometimes referred to as the gluteus maximus) which lies between two imaginary straight lines running parallel to the ground when a person is standing, the first or top of such line being one half inch below the top of the vertical cleavage of the nates (i/e., the prominence formed by the muscles running from the back of the hip to the back of the leg) and the second or bottom such line being one half inch above the lowest point of the curvature of the fleshy protuberance (sometimes referred to as the gluteal fold), and between two imaginary straight lines, one on each side of the body (the "outside lines"), which outside lines are perpendicular to the ground and to the horizontal lines described above and which perpendicular outside lines pass through the outermost point(s) at which each nate meets the outer side of each leg. Notwithstanding the above, buttocks shall not include the leg, the hamstring muscle below the gluteal fold, the tensor fasciae latae muscle or any of the above-described portion of the human body that is between either (i) the left inside perpendicular line and the left outside perpendicular line or (ii) the right inside perpendicular line and the right outside perpendicular line. For the purpose of the previous sentence the left outside perpendicular line shall be an imaginary straight line on the left side of the anus (i) that is perpendicular to the ground and to the horizontal lines described above and (ii) that is one third of the distance from the anus to the left outside line, and the right inside perpendicular line shall be an imaginary straight line on the right side of the anus (i) that is perpendicular to the ground and to the horizontal lines described above and (ii) that is one third of the distance from the anus to the right outside line. (The above description can generally be described as covering one third of the buttocks centered over the cleavage for the length of the cleavage.)

Code 50-38(c)"

Sexually Oriented Barbers?

Bullhead City, Arizona, has an ordinance requiring a license for a sexually-oriented business. Nice and normal, right? Section 5.17.040 of their municipal code lists exceptions, one of which baffles me: "Barbers and beauticians who are duly licensed under the laws of the state."

Since when is barbering a sexually-oriented business?

Selling Dog or Cat Fur?

What kind of society do we have now that makes a law like this one necessary? In Oregon, Ore. Stat. § 167.390 prohibits commerce in fur of domestic dogs and cats, but only if "the fur is obtained through a process that kills or maims the cat or dog."

So if you really want that coat made from cat hair, you either have to wait for the cat to shed enough or shave enough cats to make your coat. I wonder if this law has created a black market in dog or cat fur. Does Oregon ever arrest people for selling a dime bag of calico fur, or a brick of lhasa apso fur?

This section also prohibits bartering such fur, so you can't trade two siamese pelts for a Maine coon pelt, for example. Again, why would we need such a law?

Burial Sites?

In Bluefield, West Virginia, Ordinance Sec. 22-39 regulates where a body may be buried in the town cemetery. It does not set off spaces or a grid or anything like that, though. The ordinance states, "No person shall bury or cause to be buried any body in any of the avenues, roads, alleys or unsurveyed spaces within the cemetery or bury or cause to be buried any body in any lot in the cemetery of which he is not the owner or for which he shall not have the consent of the owner."

So, you are not allowed to bury someone IN THE ROAD in the town cemetery. Did they have a problem with people being buried IN THE ROAD? Or is the road so bumpy that people wondered????

Police Slingshots?

In Quincy, Florida, Ordinance Sec. 50-3 states, "It shall be unlawful for any person to discharge any firearm, including a pistol, rifle or shotgun or to use any slingshot, air gun or air rifle within the city, except peace officers in the line of duty.
(Code 1958, § 10-42)"

Crime must not exactly be rampant in Quincy if law enforcement carries slingshots. I wonder if the Quincy PD has an official slingshot round?

No Peanut Shells on the Floor

In Devils Lake, North Dakota, it is unlawful to throw nut hulls on the floor in a public theater (Code Sec. 9.24.020). Popcorn is apparently okay to throw on the floor, but "nuts or nut shells," and "fruit, fruit parings or skins" are specifically forbidden, so my guess is that the theater or theaters in Devils Lake do not sell peanuts.