Bizarre Arizona Laws

Although the legal system remains a highly efficient, highly logical set of guidelines and principles that produce justice, there are a few laws that simply make no sense. Regardless, a reasonable thinker hopes to find a cause for every effect, and along that line of reasoning, a law that prohibits humans from dressing donkeys in human clothes has some sort of purpose.

No Fortune Telling

This law applies only to Avondale, AZ. Any type of fortune telling, palmistry, or hypnotism is prohibited. Also illegal in Avondale is hypnotism unless performed by a licensed medical professional for legitimate medical reasons. Well, this law seems to have some sort of grounding. Perhaps gypsies were flocking to Avondale during the early years of Arizona. The easiest way to slow growth in a city is a surge of gypsies and nomads. And thus, this law may have been adopted to promote population growth in the cow town that is Avondale. 

No Glue for You!

Anyone under the age of 18 is prohibited from purchasing glue containing a solvent that may release toxic vapors or fumes. As absurd as prohibiting the sale of glue sounds, this actually serves a purpose. Sniffing the toxic vapors in glue can lead to intoxication. This bizarre release is known as huffing, sniffing or bagging by those individuals inclined to getting high on glue. 

Clotheslines

In the city of El Mirage, it is a misdemeanor infraction to hang a clothes line anywhere on a residential property. Fines begin at least $350 and multiple infractions can exceed thousands of dollars. For this odd law it’s tough to find a justification. Maybe in a time, pre HOA, people complained that hanging clothes in plain sight served as a disincentive to potential home buyers? Maybe people were stealing clothes directly off clothes lines, and thus, the law would be an effort to cut off crime right at the source?  But the previous two questions are mere conjecture. The law doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.