Legal Bytes

No Election; But Constitutional

Who was the only American to have served both as Vice President and President of the United States without ever having been elected to either position?

Make No Bones About It

Infants have a larger number of individual bones. There are 206 bones in an adult human body and 300 bones in an infant’s body because some of the bones in an infant’s skull are not yet fused together when they are born.

Trick or Treat

In honor of All Hallow’s Eve, consider these weird laws that apply on Halloween night:

1. Residents of Bellville, Missouri have to be under the age of 12 to go trick or treating (or in eighth grade or under) and ask for candy. I wonder if that precludes parents from grabbing a candy bar as they accompany their children knocking on doors in Bellville or maybe kids over that age should just ask for cash;

2. If you want to wear a mask in Walnut Creek, California on Halloween and plan to walk around in public, you better get a permit from the Sheriff – – or risk breaking the law;

3. The town of Vendragues, France made clown costumes illegal. They had “problems” with clown costumes and passed a law banning them in 2014 to “avoid any disruption… by evil clowns,” after a “terror wave” of clowns harassing innocent bystanders;

4. On Halloween (or any day for that matter), it is illegal to dress as a priest, nun, or any other clergy member in Alabama. According to Alabama law, you also aren’t allowed to wear a mustache or any other fake facial hair while attending church on Halloween since it may make people laugh;

5. If you aren’t at least 16 years old and decide to trick or treat in Dublin, Georgia, don’t go out in public wearing a mask. Maybe it’s like driving, they should offer a learner’s permit if you take a safe masking course and are accompanied by someone under 16 when you go out on Halloween;

6. If you live in Rehoboth, Delaware, you can’t celebrate Halloween on October 31st if it’s on Sunday. In that case you can only go trick-or-treating the day before (October 30), only between 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. or you risk a fine of up to $150;

7. To continue the silliness, you can’t use, sell, possess or distribute silly string in Hollywood, California from 12:00 a.m. on October 31st, until 12:00 p.m. November 1st or wind up with a not so silly $1000 fine. By the way, in case you were wondering, if your employer is a private company or you are own a retail store in California, you can ban anyone from entering if they are wearing a costume – Halloween or any other day – but you can’t discriminate – it’s everyone wearing a costume or no no one; and

8. The Kingdom of Jordan has simply outlawed Halloween entirely, making celebrating or attending Halloween celebrations illegal.

Boo!

Francis Vincent (“Frank”) Zappa Jr.

“Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say that there is more stupidity than hydrogen and that is the basic building block of the universe.”

“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world would do this, it would change the earth.”