December 23, 2024 • 7 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, regular contributor to the show and author Winter Prosapio dives into some of the strange laws we have....and why we have them. You can find her book on weird laws HERE.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on the show,
and we especially love stories about our own history. And
today we have Winter Persapio, an author from Texas. Here
she is talking about the time she wrote a book
called Weird US Laws Strange, Bizarre, wacky and Absurd Year's Winter.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Ten years ago, I.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Took a sabbatical from working, and I decided I really
wanted to pursue writing a little bit more seriously. So
I started to look for opportunities to write in because
I like humor writing and it comes very easily to me.
And a long time ago, I had also worked for
something called Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, so I had actually
(00:57):
worked in tort reform, talking about how small businesses were
getting killed by these little, frivolous lawsuits. I reached out
to an editor who was looking for a writer to
write about the Weird US Laws. And they're a Canadian companies,
so they find us incredibly amusing from that standpoint.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
And it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I got to work with an illustrator and another writer
and we took.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
On the book.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I know a lot of the weird laws in Texas.
Some of which still exists, like you cannot carry a
pair of fence cutters in your back pocket, and in all.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Of these things. You know, whenever you come across a
law like that and you're like, that is just dumb.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
When you trace its history, that's where I think it's
so interesting, because everything has a story.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
That's what makes it a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
There's the story because someone used to cut the fences,
and then when the cows would get out from these areas,
they were considered anybody's and then they would take those
cows and rebrand them as their own, and to say, well,
you know, he was wandering loose, so that it was
all about stopping that kind of cattle theft. But the
(02:11):
law is still on the books, and you know, it's
hard enough to get a lot of pass let alone
try to deal with all the messy laws that are
on the books. I don't think anyone in modern times
has been convicted from carrying, you know, one of those
wirecutters in their back pocket.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
But I don't take any chances.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I don't carry only my back pocket just in case
somebody's super serious about it. There were a lot of
laws about spitting, you know, there are days where I
feel like that law should be more followed.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Again, spitting on the sidewalk. This is back in the day.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
When we had to deal with a lot of spatoons
and all that kind of stuff, so that those were
laws that were pretty common back at that time period.
There were a lot of laws around the idea of
what was allowed with women, you know, like what women
could do, what they could wear, all those kinds of things.
(03:08):
It all reflects back on our long history as a
country right through where work we're all trying to adjust behavior.
And that's what happened throughout all of all of the
US is that you have all these laws that are
all about, you know, managing behavior that one person found
incredibly annoying and one person happened to be in a
(03:31):
position to pass a law. And so a lot of
these laws are historical remnants.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
You know, they're like your attic. You know, you put
something in there, you thought it was worth saving.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Then you move somehow, you don't have time to unpack
that box to see if you really want it.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
You move, you carry it with you. You still haven't unpacked it.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
You know, it just becomes this thing that follows you
from place to place, and that's the way some of
these weird us laws are and some of the speaks
back when people were when we were in a more
rural kind of community, right, we had chickens everywhere, We
had all kinds of different animals. So in Tennessee they
(04:12):
passed the law Tennessee Code seven zero.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Dash forward dash two eight, which made.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
It illegal to import skunks unless they were headed to
bona fide zoological parks and research institutions. We have a
skunk that comes to our house and eats our gap food,
and I feel like I don't need to import any
So at one time there were bunnies in New York City.
They it was a significant problem, and somebody thought that
(04:38):
it was a good idea to.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Shoot them from trolley cars. Just think about that.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
You're out there, you're waiting to catch a trolley car,
and then all of a sudden, there's some rabbit hunter
around there who just spots a rabbit headed for the
tracks and they just decided to shoot it. So they
decided to make that illegal, something I think of a
law that should continue to exist maybe. And then in
Kansas they made it illegal for hunters to shoot at
(05:05):
rabbits from motor boats, and it is motor boats specifically,
so if you're in a kayak or a sailboat.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I guess it's okay. That's the kind of law. That's
the one where, for example, that makes me think.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Somebody had a serious enough problem with people shooting rabbits
for motor boats that they felt like they needed to
come up with a law saying that that wasn't okay.
That's when you're thinking, that's a law about one person.
It's Ted over there, who has the ten acres and
(05:40):
these you know, brings his boat out and he's just
trying to pop off the rabbits on shore of Roger's place.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And then, unfortunately for Ted, Roger is a city council person.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I think what it really says about us is that
when we want to solve a problem, we want it
solved forever. You know, we Canadians are notorious for their politeness, right,
They're notorious for their tolerance. We're not notorious for our politeness.
I think that this speaks to that whole thing saying
(06:14):
not only am I going to tell you not to
do that, but I'm going to pass the laws you
never get to.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Do it again. Whatever whatever that thing might be.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
It also speaks to it's illegal to have an elephant
down in downtown Tulsa. So when you think about that, well,
sure of course it should be illegal to have an
elephant trap scene around town. But it wasn't enough to
just say you can't have an elephant here. Apparently the
person who had the elephant there just said no, I can't.
(06:42):
There's no law against it. So you just get into
the slippery slope of you know, surely that's just a
public disturbance or you know, wild animals in general, non
domesticated pets can't be loosened downtown Tulsa.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
But no, they have to be very specific about it.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
So what I think it says about us is that
we want to say not just no, but heck no.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
You can't do that.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Thanks to Winter Persapio for giving us a little bit
of humor, shooting bunnies from a motor boat and so
much more stories about strange laws, funny laws here on
our American stories. Folks, if you love the stories we
(07:33):
tell about this great country, and especially the stories of
America's rich past, know that all of our stories about
American history, from war to innovation, culture and faith are
brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College,
a place where students study all the things that are
beautiful in life and all the things that are good
in life. And if you can't cut to Hillsdale, Hillsdale
(07:53):
will come to you with their free and terrific online courses.
Go to Hillsdale dot edu to learn more.
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on the show,
and we especially love stories about our own history. And
today we have Winter Persapio, an author from Texas. Here
she is talking about the time she wrote a book
called Weird US Laws Strange, Bizarre, wacky and Absurd Year's Winter.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Ten years ago, I.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Took a sabbatical from working, and I decided I really
wanted to pursue writing a little bit more seriously. So
I started to look for opportunities to write in because
I like humor writing and it comes very easily to me.
And a long time ago, I had also worked for
something called Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, so I had actually
(00:57):
worked in tort reform, talking about how small businesses were
getting killed by these little, frivolous lawsuits. I reached out
to an editor who was looking for a writer to
write about the Weird US Laws. And they're a Canadian companies,
so they find us incredibly amusing from that standpoint.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
And it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I got to work with an illustrator and another writer
and we took.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
On the book.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I know a lot of the weird laws in Texas.
Some of which still exists, like you cannot carry a
pair of fence cutters in your back pocket, and in all.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Of these things. You know, whenever you come across a
law like that and you're like, that is just dumb.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
When you trace its history, that's where I think it's
so interesting, because everything has a story.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
That's what makes it a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
There's the story because someone used to cut the fences,
and then when the cows would get out from these areas,
they were considered anybody's and then they would take those
cows and rebrand them as their own, and to say, well,
you know, he was wandering loose, so that it was
all about stopping that kind of cattle theft. But the
(02:11):
law is still on the books, and you know, it's
hard enough to get a lot of pass let alone
try to deal with all the messy laws that are
on the books. I don't think anyone in modern times
has been convicted from carrying, you know, one of those
wirecutters in their back pocket.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
But I don't take any chances.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I don't carry only my back pocket just in case
somebody's super serious about it. There were a lot of
laws about spitting, you know, there are days where I
feel like that law should be more followed.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Again, spitting on the sidewalk. This is back in the day.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
When we had to deal with a lot of spatoons
and all that kind of stuff, so that those were
laws that were pretty common back at that time period.
There were a lot of laws around the idea of
what was allowed with women, you know, like what women
could do, what they could wear, all those kinds of things.
(03:08):
It all reflects back on our long history as a
country right through where work we're all trying to adjust behavior.
And that's what happened throughout all of all of the
US is that you have all these laws that are
all about, you know, managing behavior that one person found
incredibly annoying and one person happened to be in a
(03:31):
position to pass a law. And so a lot of
these laws are historical remnants.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
You know, they're like your attic. You know, you put
something in there, you thought it was worth saving.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Then you move somehow, you don't have time to unpack
that box to see if you really want it.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
You move, you carry it with you. You still haven't unpacked it.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
You know, it just becomes this thing that follows you
from place to place, and that's the way some of
these weird us laws are and some of the speaks
back when people were when we were in a more
rural kind of community, right, we had chickens everywhere, We
had all kinds of different animals. So in Tennessee they
(04:12):
passed the law Tennessee Code seven zero.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Dash forward dash two eight, which made.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
It illegal to import skunks unless they were headed to
bona fide zoological parks and research institutions. We have a
skunk that comes to our house and eats our gap food,
and I feel like I don't need to import any
So at one time there were bunnies in New York City.
They it was a significant problem, and somebody thought that
(04:38):
it was a good idea to.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Shoot them from trolley cars. Just think about that.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
You're out there, you're waiting to catch a trolley car,
and then all of a sudden, there's some rabbit hunter
around there who just spots a rabbit headed for the
tracks and they just decided to shoot it. So they
decided to make that illegal, something I think of a
law that should continue to exist maybe. And then in
Kansas they made it illegal for hunters to shoot at
(05:05):
rabbits from motor boats, and it is motor boats specifically,
so if you're in a kayak or a sailboat.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I guess it's okay. That's the kind of law. That's
the one where, for example, that makes me think.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Somebody had a serious enough problem with people shooting rabbits
for motor boats that they felt like they needed to
come up with a law saying that that wasn't okay.
That's when you're thinking, that's a law about one person.
It's Ted over there, who has the ten acres and
(05:40):
these you know, brings his boat out and he's just
trying to pop off the rabbits on shore of Roger's place.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And then, unfortunately for Ted, Roger is a city council person.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I think what it really says about us is that
when we want to solve a problem, we want it
solved forever. You know, we Canadians are notorious for their politeness, right,
They're notorious for their tolerance. We're not notorious for our politeness.
I think that this speaks to that whole thing saying
(06:14):
not only am I going to tell you not to
do that, but I'm going to pass the laws you
never get to.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Do it again. Whatever whatever that thing might be.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
It also speaks to it's illegal to have an elephant
down in downtown Tulsa. So when you think about that, well,
sure of course it should be illegal to have an
elephant trap scene around town. But it wasn't enough to
just say you can't have an elephant here. Apparently the
person who had the elephant there just said no, I can't.
(06:42):
There's no law against it. So you just get into
the slippery slope of you know, surely that's just a
public disturbance or you know, wild animals in general, non
domesticated pets can't be loosened downtown Tulsa.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
But no, they have to be very specific about it.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
So what I think it says about us is that
we want to say not just no, but heck no.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
You can't do that.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Thanks to Winter Persapio for giving us a little bit
of humor, shooting bunnies from a motor boat and so
much more stories about strange laws, funny laws here on
our American stories. Folks, if you love the stories we
(07:33):
tell about this great country, and especially the stories of
America's rich past, know that all of our stories about
American history, from war to innovation, culture and faith are
brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College,
a place where students study all the things that are
beautiful in life and all the things that are good
in life. And if you can't cut to Hillsdale, Hillsdale
(07:53):
will come to you with their free and terrific online courses.
Go to Hillsdale dot edu to learn more.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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