Sunday, July 06, 2008

I know what I'm gonna do next weekend!

Belmar- Revelers in this Jersey shore party town can now legally drink from unregistered beer kegs and give people the finger.

Woo-hoo! Time to get liquored up and be rude!

"I'm not sure anyone even knew that making obscene gestures was illegal," Mayor Ken Pringle said. "Right after we send out our tax bills, I tend to see a few."

Same as every other Central Jersey town, I see.

Here's the real story:
One rule that's no longer on the books related to raising one's middle finger, or the many variants thereof. However objectionable it might be to some people, such a gesture is Constitutionally protected free speech, said Pringle, who is an attorney.
He said the borough was contacted by civil libertarians who questioned the legality of several municipal ordinances.
The ban on "obscene gestures," which never spelled out exactly what was and was not covered, was overly subjective, Pringle agreed. No one can recall anyone being prosecuted for violating it. Another law prohibiting people from loitering in alleyways also was axed.
And a beer keg tagging law, which Belmar enacted last year with great fanfare, withered and died after the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control said a handful of similar local laws enacted around the state requiring beer kegs to have the name, address and phone number of the person renting them was unconstitutional.

Let's just hope the bennies keep some modicum of self-restraint...

3 comments:

Rob S. said...

Woo-hoo! Time to get liquored up and be rude!

Sharon, it's no fair imitating the voices in my head.

Sharon GR said...

I'm not imitating.

I am the voices in your head.

JWOW said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.