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| Lead slingin' Parrot Head  |
Somehow this story struck me as a feel good Christmas and Holiday season story...cue Ralphie and the great snowball fight.  Apparently whoever crafted the original town ban wasn't a baseball fan either. https://www.wltx.com/mobile/ar...n-town/101-620164590 [Video embedded in linked article] Colorado boy fights to make snowball fights legal in town It's currently illegal to have a snowball fight in Severance, but one third grader is fighting to change that. Author: Janet Oravetz Published: 2:03 PM EST December 3, 2018 Updated: 2:06 PM EST December 3, 2018 SEVERANCE, CO — Snowball fights may seem like a right passage for children who live in an area that gets snow, but for residents who live in Severance, a small town in Weld County, it could land them in trouble -- on paper anyway. Currently, under section 10-5-80 of the municipal code, it's illegal to have a snowball fight. It reads: "It is unlawful for any person to throw or shoot any stone or any other missile upon or at any person, animal, building, tree or other public or private property; or at or against any vehicle or equipment designed for the transportation of persons or property.” Older municipal code books that are still in use specifically define a snowball as a missile, according to the assistant to the Town Administrator. "It means my friends and I cannot have a snowball fight without breaking the law," said Dane Best, a third grade student at Range View Elementary School. Best is pushing for a change. "As far as anyone here at the town hall knows, and this is going back about 30 to 40 years, that rule has been in effect since the start of the Town," Kyle Rietkerk, assistant to the Town Administrator told 9NEWS by email. Severance was founded in 1906, according to the Town's website, and had enough residents to become an official municipal corporation in 1920. Severance's population as of 2017 was 4,275, according to the 2017 U.S. Census Bureau. It's unclear to those who live in the town now why throwing snowballs was outlawed. "Started off we were a very small farming community," Rietkerk said. "Could be they didn't want kids throwing snowballs at cattle." No one in the town can recall anyone actually being punished for throwing a snowball in recent years, but others have faced fines under the same code for throwing things like rocks, Rietkerk said. Rietkerk said the town has wanted to change the code for a while, and for the past 2-3 years has encouraged visiting students to come to the board and ask for the change. This year, Best decided enough was enough. He made his first plea before the town board on Nov. 5. "I like snowball fights," Best replied when asked at the meeting why he decided to challenge the law. Best will return for a second presentation Dec. 3, where he must explain why he thinks the law should change and provide evidence to support his reasoning. So far things are looking good. "Thanks for finally bringing it to us, " said Mayor Pro Tem Matt Gordon at the November meeting. "Kids should have snowball fights." | ||
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Member |
I can see it now.....a compromise. Snowball fighting is legal between June and September. There, are you happy now? I'm sorry if I hurt you feelings when I called you stupid - I thought you already knew - Unknown ................................... When you have no future, you live in the past. " Sycamore Row" by John Grisham | |||
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goodheart |
The grammar nazi in me groans and chafes at this mistake, which should read "a rite of passage". Bet that journalist was really proud of what she wrote, too. Of course I'm rooting for the kid. _________________________ “Remember, remember the fifth of November!" | |||
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| Member |
I remember having epic snowball wars as a kid. we would build forts out of snow and duke it out for several days. | |||
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| Freethinker |
Where I live a town ordinance basically makes it illegal to throw a snowball at anything. ► 6.4/93.6 “ Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one’s own understanding without another’s guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one’s own mind without another’s guidance.” — Immanuel Kant | |||
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Wait, what? |
My friends and would have scoffed at such stupidity and had our snowball fights regardless of what anyone said. The city cops would likewise have scoffed at trying to stop it. “Remember to get vaccinated or a vaccinated person might get sick from a virus they got vaccinated against because you’re not vaccinated.” - author unknown | |||
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| Lead slingin' Parrot Head |
Yes, I cringed when I read that also. With speak-to-write and auto-correct on our electronic devices, mispellings shouldn't be as prevalent as they are...but in many cases these features actually increase these types of mistakes, along with small screens and and small keyboards. When texting I've had some interesting, confusing, and sometimes amusing conversations when either speak-to-write uses the wrong words or auto-correct mispells words. We even use a text acronym to explain a previously sent incorrectly worded or misspelled text. DYAC which stands for Damn You Auto Correct. What I don't understand is why someone wouldn't proof read what they wrote and attempt to make any necessary corrections...especially if someone is a professional writer or wants to communicate effectively. I'm certainly not perfect and make writing mistakes frequently, but I try to proof read what I write and make corrections when I catch mistakes.
Hmm, that's interesting. I had assumed that this was some arcane obscure law in a small town, but maybe this type of law is more common than I thought. | |||
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Ammoholic |
Seemed like a perfectly all wright statement to me? Jesse Sic Semper Tyrannis | |||
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| Lead slingin' Parrot Head |
Growing up in small towns I don't think any of the kids I was in snowball fights with would have even stopped to consider whether what we were doing was illegal...and apparently none of the parents or adults who watched us (and sometimes joined in the snowball fights) gave it much thought either. | |||
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| Member |
My town doesn't have snowball ordinances. In fact, my town does not have many ordinances at all. I like my town. | |||
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| Member |
Snowball fights were safer than dirt bomb fights. Back in the day I was a pretty good shot. I'm glad I grew up when I did. ____________________________________________________ The butcher with the sharpest knife has the warmest heart. | |||
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THE SIGGUY |
This too was my life in the 60'sand early / mid 70's. It reminds me of building forts and having BB Gun fights. Funny, my mother never questioned me walking out in the summer with my winter parka on, jeans, hat and ski goggles on. Those were the days! I'm very happy for that young boy to finally get to enjoy it!! -------------------------------------------------------2/28/2015 ~ Rest in peace Dad. Lt Commander E.G.E. USN Love you. | |||
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| Freethinker |
I find it interesting to ponder laws like that and what led to them (I assume that one has been on the books for decades, and possibly a century or more). Many of us decry the power of “the government” over us, but the effectiveness of our police forces and general attitudes have truly changed what is acceptable, and mostly for the better. I don’t know what sorts of things the city fathers felt they had to address by banning snowball throwing, but it was obviously something. Someone once told me about driving through our town and having two drunks burst out of a bar and fighting in the street. His reaction was, “Well, that’s Leadville.” The older former members of the Sheriff’s Office used to regale me with stories of the regular and frequent street fights they had to respond to, and how there were few, if any concerns about how they handled them. At one point someone used dynamite from the nearby mine to blow up a patrol car in the Courthouse parking lot (in the 1950s). Not too far away, my father and friends would take to the hills overlooking their town with their .22 rifles and play games that consisted of seeing how close they could shoot at each other without causing any injuries, usually. My aunt told about carrying a revolver as a teenager to protect herself from aggressive dogs (I believe I still have it—barrel shortened with a hacksaw and all). Not too long ago I read a book about a “frontier” town in Illinois in the early 19th century and how virtually all the males, adolescents on up, carried knives and were quick to use them on each other. Perhaps the merchants and others of my town got tired of their windows being broken by snowballs, and with no other good way of addressing the problem, convinced the city council to at least make throwing them illegal. Sort of like our gun control laws today: They don’t really accomplish anything, but they make people feel that they have done something. ► 6.4/93.6 “ Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one’s own understanding without another’s guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one’s own mind without another’s guidance.” — Immanuel Kant | |||
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delicately calloused |
Snowball throwing was verboten in my high school. That didn't stop my best friend and me. One day my buddy ambushed me outside after school. Creamed me right in the ear. So I scooped up a fresh ball and chucked it hard as I could back at him. He ducked though he didn't need to. It flew well over his head and toward a pair of big metal clad doors. Just as the errant projectile reached those doors, one of the hippie teachers walked through and.....POW! Right in the forehead. Hair and atomized snow puffed into a huge afro. When it all settled back down, he was staring kinda in my direction through snow packed John Lennon style glasses. Really, he couldn't see a thing. In spite of my sure peril, I could not help laughing at the sight of him scanning the scene blindly through those white lenses all freshly disheveled. Frankly, it was worth a week of detention. You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier | |||
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Member |
For god sake, my brother, me, and a couple of our friends used to have Roman Candle fights all the time. That would likely cause these politicos to have a heart attack. I think the kid and about eight of his friends should show up at the town square one night and practice a bit of good ole fashioned civil disobedience by have one hell of a good snowball battle. See what the cops do then. Oh, and then there's this.... Easy, because its stupid. Really? "Its stupid" should more than suffice. ----------------------------- Guns are awesome because they shoot solid lead freedom. Every man should have several guns. And several dogs, because a man with a cat is a woman. Kurt Schlichter | |||
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Member |
Commie bastards. "Ninja kick the damn rabbit" | |||
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| Lead slingin' Parrot Head |
I'm certain that I haven't devoted the time to reflect on some of these arcane laws that you have but it seems to me that, when considering laws such as one that bans the eating of frogs that die during a frog jumping contest and another involving a ban on the throwing of confetti, that although some of these laws manifest themselves in poorly conceived poorly worded fashion, they are intended to address a real problem...but often without regard to the unintended consequences or negative impact on those who aren't breaking the law or otherwise causing the problem. Yep, just like many gun control laws. I will say that I'm a fan of the old New Mexico law that prevents "idiots" from voting. I'm trying to figure out how to implement this nation-wide. I'm not opposed to laws, at least not all of them, but given the multitude of bad laws it seems to me that the elected representatives who pass them could first spend a little more time debating and crafting fewer but better laws, rather than some of the monstrosities currently on the books. Perhaps it's the history buff in me, but in reading some of early laws that seem so strange to us now, I've often thought that legislators would do posterity a favor if they included a short preamble explaining what circumstances led them to propose and pass the laws that they have. I got a chuckle out of your small town anecdotes...thanks for the context! | |||
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| Lead slingin' Parrot Head |
Great story! I have had a few errant snowballs hit unintended targets...but not like yours.  | |||
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Member |
Damn, I suppose potato gun fights are out also. ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ | |||
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אַרְיֵה |
We need a law like that, in this country! הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים | |||
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