blue laws....
 

http://www.wrcbtv.com/news/news.cfm?DID=11097


I was listening to the local news monday or tuesday and heard something about repealing the blue laws in Chattanooga TN.

In my local town it seems like no one is open on sunday and it drives me insane. This made me curious how many of you have these kind of laws in your area...?

What other strange laws do you have?
in my town I can not buy alcohol from the grocery store or gas station. I have to go to a separate beer or liquor store.

In Georgia i can not buy alcohol at all on sunday. But in Tennesse i can.

One of my friends is from Elmer, New Jersey which has some pretty significant blue laws. She hates it; according to her the town is a stagnant hellhole that should be firebombed.

And she's such a sweet girl too.

For the link challenged :)

In Colorado, nothing stronger than 3.2% Beer can be sold in Grocery stores.

No liquor or car sales on Sundays.

in Wisconsin, it's illegal to sell a car on Sunday....that's the only goofy one here that I know of.

you can't buy alchol here after 10:30 on sundays

well Lubbock is a dry county...so we have to go to the county line to buy alcohol...
cant buy hard liquor after 9pm...

sucks... it makes alcohol more expensive... but ohwell..

in ri, you cant buy liquor on sundays, and you cant buy alcholic beverages at the grocery store or gas station

ON sunday? I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.

Lebell beat me to it. Personally I liked having the dealership closed on Sundays when I worked there. At least I could be guaranteed one day a week off that way.

That sucks for the car salesmen. Here in Phx, they get most of their business on Sundays.

These are some great examples of separation of church and state issues. These laws are totally religion based and it's fucked up.

What's not to like about Oklahoma, the cradle of intelligence?

Stupid Oklahoma Laws
(Real Laws and real stupid)
It is illegal to have the hind legs of farm animals in your boots.
Dogs must have a permit signed by the mayor in order to congregate in groups of three or more on private property.
It is illegal to wear your boots to bed.
Fish may not be contained in fishbowls while on a public bus.
Tissues are not to be found in the back of one's car.
Oklahoma will not tolerate anyone taking a bite out of another's hamburger.
No one may spit on a sidewalk.
Females are forbidden from doing their own hair without being licensed by the state.
Cars must be tethered outside of public buildings. (Repealed)
Anyone arrested for soliciting a hooker must have their name and picture shown on television.
It is against the law to read a comic book while operating a motor vehicle.
Whaling is illegal.
Violators can be fined, arrested or jailed for making ugly faces at a dog.
Tattoos are banned.
Residents are taxed for the furniture in their homes, and any other personal belongings. (Repealed 1998)
People who make "ugly faces" at dogs may be fined and/or jailed.


Ada
If you wear New York Jets clothing, you may be put in jail.

Clinton
Molesting an automobile is illegal.

Hawthahorne
It is unlawful to put any hypnotized person in a display window.

Oklahoma City
No one may walk backwards downtown while eating a hamburger.

Schulter
Women may not gamble in the nude, in lingerie, or while wearing a towel.

Tulsa
You may not open a soda bottle without the supervision of a licensed engineer.
Elephants are not to be taken into the downtown area.

Wynona
One's mode of transportation must be tied up while not attended.
Mules may not drink out of bird baths.
Clothes may not be washed in bird baths.

Yukon
It is illegal to tie a horse in front of city hall.
While passing another vehicle, you must honk your horn.

Whaling is illegal??? We had a problem with that at one time???

In Ontario, all alchoholic "carry out" drinks are sold by one of two monopolies. "The Beer Store", a government/beer company controlled store, and "The LCBO" (aka, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario). Hours vary depending on location. Typically, they close between 5 and 10.

The advantage is the LCBO's, which are relatively common, carry huge massive varieties of liquor, and a random The Beer Store typically have 50 to 100+ different brands in stock.

The LCBO is also in charge of liscencing locations that sell alchoholic with or without meals, and semi-private functions that do the same.

In Utah, the beer can't be over 3.2%, and any hard alcohol needs to be bought in a state funded liquor store (that's only open until maybe 7PM monday through saturday, closed sunday). And the beer can't be bought between midnight and six AM on Sunday's.

[sarcasm]im so glad that i live in the land of the free... i love that church and state are separated.[/sarcasm]

I used to live in Alabama and the blue laws there drove me nuts...it seemed to be on a county by county basis. No sales on sunday, unless you were in Birmingham where beer & wine after noon is ok. Montgomery didnt allow draft beer (they made an exception for the brew pub. I guess it would be dumb to have them pour one, bottle one, open one, and then serve one.) You could always tell which counties were dry because there were liquor stores on the border.

it is a crime in Arkansas to pronounce it "are kansas." You must say "arkansaw" or you may be fined.

It is illegal to drive a red car in Minneapolis.

It is illegal (this is a recent one) to "ogle" women in Minneapolis. Ogling is defined as looking at them for more than 3 seconds.

according to my teacher in my high school law class, in either minnesota or wisconsin (can't remember which), three or more indians (feathers, not dots) congregating outside constitutes a war party and can be shot on site.

South Carolina....hold on, this can get a little crazy...

Liquor can't be sold in bars as 'free pour' All mixed drinks are mixed with airplane (mini) bottles.

No alcohol on Sunday

Sunday, stores cannot sell ALL items until 1:30...the paper listed the crazy things you can and cannot sell, for example:

Can't sell plungers
Can sell Toilet Paper

Can sell Flowers
Can't sell shovels

Can sell cigarrettes
Can't sell lighters

What we end up with is our 'supercenter' retailers roping off isles that you can't shop in until 1:30.:crazy:

Edited by hrdwareguy to fix the italics tag

thnx for that., you made me feel better about GA...

Yup I know that law.....a guy at a dealer gave me a speech how it goes back to sunday being the sabbath

There are many towns in the Bergen County area of NJ that have blue laws. Not sure if it's county wide there but it's a significant number of towns. There are VERY stiff fines for companies ignoring them. People who ran into their offices on Sunday to get something have been fined with some police forces actually patrolling parking lots of businesses to see if anyone is working.

I was traveling through North Dakota 2 years ago moving my mother from WA to OH. I met a man in a small town that told me this exact same thing. I thought he was joking.

maine...

no booze sold on sunday - repealed - after 9 am

no booze sold on memorial day - repealed

no booze sold on election day till after the polls closed (the pol's would buy you drinks - get ya drunk to vote for them) - repealed

if your license to drive has been suspended - you can't register a boat / snowmobile trailor - BUT - you can register the boat / snowmobile and operate them - ever "drive" a trailor???

massachusetts...

no pushing a nun in a shopping cart

There were blue laws in this area of PA during my lifetime. I think they're essentially still in existence, but not enforced because the Legislative bodies are unwilling to make them stronger and the fines / punishments in place are grossly out of date.

For example I think the fine for operating a place of business on Sunday is something like $100.

Don't get me wrong -- bars and nightclubs still have to get a special license to sell alcohol on Sunday (Separate from the regular license) It's just a lot less difficult now. Many of the older restaurants still close on sunday because they can't be bothered to go through the motions.

Nova Scotia (Canada) still has Sunday Shopping laws... only bars, restaurants, and tourist stores can open. No grocery stores!


Hmm, I wonder why they made the one about hind-legs in the boots? Hmm...

Also, what are you supposed to do with your fish when you're commuting?

I think that's the LLBO, isn't it? (the Liquor Licensing Board)... maybe it's changed. Long live the Beer Store :)

More from the great state of Oklahoma:

no liquor stores open on Sunday, but beer and wine coolers and crap can be sold in the grocery stores on Sunday (I think).

Liquor stores can't carry domestic beer, only import. That's because all domestic beer sold in OK is the watered down stuff and liquor stores can only sell the 6pt beer.

No cold storage is allowed in liquor stores here. However, grocery stores can chill their watered down crap.

Liquor stores closed on election days until the polls close.

All liquor stores close at 9pm.

Individuals cannot own more than one liquor store legally, though some have found ways around that. There are no "chain" liquor stores.

Nothing but liquor can be sold in a liquor store- no shot glasses, cork screws, mixes, etc.

You must have lived in Oklahoma for 10 years in order to get a liquor license to open a store. This is the store type of license, there are others that I don't think have that stipulation.

Oklahoma is the biggest bible beating place you will ever see- fucking churches are on literally every corner, some right next door to each other. I think they have the most messed up liquor laws of anywhere. I don't really fit in here... :(

Well, I can only see this posing a problem if it covers people dressed as nuns in addition to real nuns. Seriously, when have you seen a nun imitating something she saw on MTV?


In CT, no alcohol sales after 9pm (used to be 8) or on Sundays.

Also:

Bars and casinos cannot be open between 2am and 8am.
Liquor stores cannot be open between 12 midnight and 8am, and grocery and convenience stores cannot sell 3.2 beer between these hours, though they can sell 3.2 beer on Sundays.

I'm in favor of abolishing all blue laws and 3.2 beer!

I think Tennessee is the proverbial buckle of the bible belt.

at least you can buy alcohol on sunday in TN...

No, LLBO is what ontario restaurants put on their shops to let you know they're licensed. LCBO is the store.

yea and i think the 2 required placards in every bar in TN are hilarious!!

-standard Surgeon General's alcohol warnings (don't drink while pregnant)

-and MISDEMEANOR (it spells out out the penalities) -- you can't bring your gun into a bar


I understand that these placards are required in TN for any place that sells alcohol....:D

It's all of Bergen County, the town it hurts the most is Paramus, which has 3 pretty large shopping malls -- and the mayor of Paramus, admits it would be good for business to have these stores open on Sunday, there's no way the highways could handle the traffic congestion (the folks from NYC head out to Paramus to shop - -for cheaper taxes)

For a few years I worked retail, and during the holidays, we'd come into the stores on Sunday to catch up on stock, we couldn't turn on the lights and more than once the police would be waiting outside the back door when we left with a ticket for working.

Well dang, and I thought NJ was silly for making it illegal to pump your own gas -- least we can do whatever we want to the nuns.

My point (such as it was) was that the LLBO does the licensing, and the LCBO does the controlling/vending. Different entities. Tha'sall. :)


*going off to push nuns in shopping carts*

Astoria, Illinois is dry---only alcohol served is at the VFW---so everyone in town belongs to the VFW. (and the mayor used to haul the booze in from Peoriia in his farm truck with a tarp over it.

No beer sold down here in Texas until noon---most of us can make it that long..:D