Dave Allyn wrote:

people do not have enough creativity to make up insane laws out of
thier heads as preventive. there needs to be a case where someone
says "there should be a law againat that" and then makes one.

I'm going to go way off-topic here, but this is a funny story.

I'm semi-proud to say that something I did resulted in a change in a
law. About 20 years ago I made some extra money as a taxicab driver.
There was a nice nightclub that was a good place to pick-up people who
were too drunk to drive (or had planned to get too drunk to drive), and
had enough money to afford to be in such a nice place. Translation: Good
fares going a long way from downtown to nice suburbs.

Across the street from the nightclub was a bus stop. The lane behind the
bus stop was closed for sewer construction. It was hours after the last
bus went by. Someone coming out the door of the nightclub could see a
taxicab parked in this bus stop before they got out the door. It was the
perfect place to sit and wait. I was out of the way, yet right there to
scoop up a willing drunk.

Along came the leader of the tactical squad, spending time between real
emergencies just cruising around. He told me to move on, and drove off.
By the time the traffic signal turned green, he was three blocks away,
and I saw no need to drive away. He actually had circled around, and
walked up behind me. He wanted to write me a parking ticket, but because
of his rank, he didn't carry a ticket book, so he called one of his
squad over to write the ticket.

He apparently didn't make himself clear on the radio, because within 90
seconds, the whole tactical squad had the street closed-off, and they
were breaking out the weapons as they surrounded my taxicab. (Yes. This
is a true story! The tactical squad closed a street, surrounded me, and
broke out their weapons!) Finally, some muscle-bound flunky hands me a
parking ticket.

(A friend of mine was a cop working in an adjoining district that night.
I asked him if he had heard about the event. According to him, they
started to shift manpower from his district to the district this
occurred in as the regular patrols in that district went to help the
tactical squad with traffic control. But then the whole operation was
suddenly called off, which he thought was sort of odd. Once he heard my
story, he had a good laugh. Seems the leader of the tactical squad was
thought to be a bit over-the-top by the rank and file.)

Well, I had more free time than people should have, so I took it to
court. At the first appearance, all the judge let me say was guilty or
not guilty. Three months later, a trial is set. I represented myself,
and the assistant city attorney offers to reduce the ticket to a $10
fine. I decline, and she gets all upset about how I'm being stupid, and
I'll loose. (Keep in mind it's only a $25, and I've already had twice
that much entertainment!) I get on the stand and quote the city
ordinance that says "bus stops" are for use of "common carriers". I then
read the state statute that defines "common carriers" and specifically
mentions taxicabs.I also mention that had attempted to say this at the
first appearance in the other courtroom.

The judge stops my defense, pulls out his copies of the ordinances and
statutes, reads it for himself. He then asks the assistant city attorney
whether she had even bothered to read the ordinance. She admitted that
she hadn't. The judge immediately dismissed the case, and scolded her
for having wasted so much time on a case that she clearly couldn't win.
The judge also stated that it was a good idea that I would park my
taxicab in order to entice possible drunk drivers off the road.

(Incidentally, it was the same assistant city attorney who had a few
months earlier lost a case against me. I was ticketed for running a red
light. The cop testified that I was doing the speed limit of 30, and the
light turned yellow when I was 50 feet away. The judge pulled-out his
calculator. I went on the stand, and the only thing I said was that the
officer was correct. I was found not guilty.)

Within three months the city council was changing the laws that referred
to bus stops. They changed all references from "common carrier" to
"franchised motor bus". No action was ever taken to make it easier for
drunks to have easier access to taxicabs.

All that because some cop with too much time on his hands decided that
he wanted to hassle a taxicab driver. The least they could have done is
name the new ordinance after me.

To sort-of bring this back on-topic, the same city council had also made
it illegal to put food scraps on your compost pile, and declined to
rewrite the noxious weed ordinance to allow people to grow ornamental
grasses.

I live 2000 miles away from that place, and it's 20 years later. One
thing that the Internet has made it easier to do is see what's on the
agenda of the city council where I now live. If something stupid appears
on the agenda, I'll speak-up before any new dumb laws are passed. Living
in a much smaller community, I think the council members are more
familiar with the motives behind the items put in front of them, and are
less likely to rubber-stamp some knee-jerk reaction from some bureaucrat
who wants more power to hassle someone in particular. On the other hand,
in too small of a community, one jerk can have far too much influence.

--
Warren H.

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Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.