Governor targets 'wacky' laws, bills
Sanford cautions on overregulation
COLUMBIA — Until Wednesday, Gov. Mark Sanford would not even have qualified for a job washing hair.
With the stroke of his pen, though, the governor, who served three terms in Congress and oversees a state of 4 million heads, did away with a requirement that a person must complete 1,500 hours of instruction to shampoo hair in a salon.
"This is the kind of thing that deserves to be on Comedy Central," Sanford said. "Why in the world do we have laws like this one on the books?"
By comparison, police officers need 396 hours to work a beat but someone can carry a concealed weapon after only eight hours of training.
Sanford highlighted a list of other "wacky" and "sometimes crazy" state laws and legislation, including a proposed bill that would require replay videos for high school football and basketball games and another than bans the sale of musical instruments on Sundays.
In shifting from comedy to philosophy, Sanford said the Legislature needs to be cautious of overregulation and each year should look at the laws that should be repealed.
The bill Rep. Nikki Haley, R-Lexington, introduced to free shampooers from the same level of training cosmetologists receive took more than a year to move through the legislative process.
Two Columbia-area stylists said the legislation will help them create jobs, put students to work while they study at beauty school and shorten the wait for customers.
"It will free up the stylist," said Jenny Trussell, manager at Belk Salon and Spa at Dutch Square in Columbia. "They can deliver the client to their chair, and they can work their magic."
She said a job shampooing at her store would start at $7 an hour.
Sanford's hit list
Gov. Mark Sanford drafted a list of what he calls the state's most ridiculous laws and crazy proposals.
What's on the books:
--Police officers need to train for 396 hours before they can hit the street; concealed weapon-permit holders, 8; South Carolina cosmetologists, though, need 1,500 hours of instruction.
--Fortune-tellers need a special permit to open a shop.
--Barber schools must have at least 10 instructional chairs — and those chairs are required by law to be upholstered and finished in exactly the same way.
--Once a year in October, all public schools should observe "Frances Willard Day" and "prepare and render a suitable program on the day to the end that the children of the state may be taught the evils of intemperance."
--Circuses cannot exceed 48 hours at one place in one year.
--If a menu or advertisement states "frozen dessert," it must correctly state the specific frozen dessert that is offered for sale so as not to mislead the consumer.
--Musical instruments are not allowed to be sold on Sunday.
The "crazy" proposals:
--High school football and basketball playoff games would need to have replay for officials to use under a proposed law.
--The state came close to mandating that all drinking straws be sold in individual wrappers. The bill almost led to a fistfight on the House floor in 2003.
Reach Yvonne Wenger at 803-799-9051 or ywenger@ postandcourier.com.
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Comments
Slick50 (anonymous) says...
How about proposing a wacky law that requires anyone working in this state to have a fixed mailing address, a valid SC drivers license or state issued ID card, and a social security number? That would be just craaaaaaaaaaaazy.
May 15, 2008 at 5:59 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
moonpie (anonymous) says...
I like your suggestion "SLICK50".
Gov Mark spent his day tending to this crap when we have ILLEGALS running around like ants! We need a vigilante group because our governments are out of control. We the people need to take our streets back, however we have to do so. As we can see we cannot depend on the state or federal dipwads to do anything meaningful.
May 15, 2008 at 6:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
gococks1985 (anonymous) says...
Gripe as you wish moonpie, but some of these laws needed to be abolished long ago. While I think there are other things that need to be taken care of as well, I applaud Mr. Sanford for taking the time to take care of it NOW. They have been putting this off for way to long now. So now it's done and you can move on and gripe about something else such as the ILLEGALS. Hey wait, maybe you can do the work for him and make them all go away. Gesh...get a life. Yes, I did wake up on the wrong side of the bed today.
May 15, 2008 at 7:05 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ln1959 (anonymous) says...
What about the poker law. Will they abolished that one in time for the Mt. Pleasant folks to get there money back.
Harpo....
Your correct, that law is still on the book, and not only in South Carolina.
May 15, 2008 at 7:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Reader (anonymous) says...
Harpo -
There is no such law. If it exists in any other state, I would love to have a citation for the actual statute and not just a reference to some website which reports it. Often people will email around spammed lists of crazy laws with what are represented as being real laws. Rarely are any of them real.
There are admittedly some stupid laws, but often the craziness is because they are taken out of context. For example, in one case there was a website which said that it was illegal for anyone to dance with moose after 6:00 in Alaska (or something along those lines). The site even gave a reference to the law. If you took the time to read the actual law, what is said was something like "It is illegal to cause of public commotion after dark." Well, admittedly dancing with a moose might cause a commotion, but that was not what the law actually said.
Other crazy laws have at least some justification out there but sound worse when picked apart. For example, the law about selling musical instruments on Sunday is actually a holdover from the old blue laws. The actual law lists bunches and bunches of non-necessary items which cannot be sold on the Sabbath. It is not just musical instruments. (The whole concept is silly, but at least the law is not as silly as it sounds when picked apart.)
Sorry for the rant, but these sorts of reports about crazy laws always make me -- well, crazy.
Back on point - I support cleaning up lots of out-dated references in the South Carolina Code.
May 15, 2008 at 7:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
zoomru (anonymous) says...
Coldbeer...right on!!
Check this article in the Greenville News...
http://www.greenvilleonline.com
/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=
/20080514/NEWS01/80514025
We are 22 BILLION short? Who are these people and who is funding this propaganda!?
TENISHA!!! ..My Dear..Nice to have finally met you last night?! Sounds to me like we have a GROOMER trying to twist some ARMS for something??? I wonder what??
May 15, 2008 at 8:31 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
katrenavantassle (anonymous) says...
I agree ColdBeer! The P&C is getting close to being the "J.Springer Times". Reports alot of garbage sometimes just to have something to write about.
Is their still a law that says "On Sunday, a man may beat his wife on the state house steps in Columbia,SC" Talk about old....why was this law made?????? What were the circumstances on it?
P.S. I tell my hubby that I will never go with him to Columbia for anything on Sunday's....LOL!
May 15, 2008 at 9:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Girleygirl (anonymous) says...
"--The state came close to mandating that all drinking straws be sold in individual wrappers. The bill almost led to a fistfight on the House floor in 2003."
This is so funny because they were about to fight....about staws......what's wacky again??
May 15, 2008 at 9:44 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
GeecheeBoi84 (anonymous) says...
I'm surprised Sanford didn't grab da law making it illegal to spit on a sidewalk on Sundays. There's also a crazy one that you can only beat your wife on the steps of the court house downtown (on some specific day of the week I believe).
Agreed ColdBeer, on the police beat.... Maybe they could use the remaining 388 hours on sensitivity training, to make sure we don't have any Philly repeats. I've got a friend pressing charges on CPD now -- which was actually highly recommended by the judge -- after being slammed face first on the concrete by 2 officers.
May 15, 2008 at 11:38 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Reader (anonymous) says...
GeecheeBoi84 wrote, "I'm surprised Sanford didn't grab da law making it illegal to spit on a sidewalk on Sundays. There's also a crazy one that you can only beat your wife on the steps of the court house downtown (on some specific day of the week I believe)."
Here are two more examples of what I was saying up above.
Take the spitting law as an example. There is no such South Carolina law about spitting on Sundays. There is, however, the following municipal law in the City of Charleston: "Sec. 21-129. Spitting in public. No person shall spit or deposit any spit, mucus, tobacco juice or wad of tobacco upon any public street or sidewalk, or in or on any public grounds, building or public conveyance."
That law prohibits spitting in public regardless of the specific circumstances. By adding very special phrases, someone can make is seem like the law is really crazy. For example, you can correctly say the following: It is against the law to spit on a public street in Charleston on Sunday if there is a full moon and the person is wearing a sombrero. True enough, but so is EVERY form of spitting in public.
As for the second example about hitting one's wife, there is simply no such law at all in South Carolina, and there never has been. That is completely made up urban myth that gets emailed around every now and again.
May 15, 2008 at 3:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ForPnC (anonymous) says...
http://dumblaws.com/laws/united-state...
- It is perfectly legal to beat your wife on the court house steps on Sundays.
- When approaching a four way or blind intersection in a non-horse driven vehicle you must stop 100 ft from the intersection and discharge a firearm into the air to warn horse traffic.
May 15, 2008 at 3:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Girleygirl (anonymous) says...
Stand828 I miss that...what law?
May 15, 2008 at 4:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Reader (anonymous) says...
ForPnC wrote, "http://dumblaws.com/laws/united-states/s...
- It is perfectly legal to beat your wife on the court house steps on Sundays.
- When approaching a four way or blind intersection in a non-horse driven vehicle you must stop 100 ft from the intersection and discharge a firearm into the air to warn horse traffic."
Question your source! Neither one of those laws exists. Note that whoever posted those on that website did not include any sort of reference to where those laws can be found. Those are completely made up tall tales.
There are not now -- and there never have been -- such laws in South Carolina.
I am challenging anyone to actually document that either one of those laws has EVER existed in any South Carolina statute. If anyone can provide a cite to any law in South Carolina that says that you can beat your wife at the courthouse, I will ontribute $100 to a domestic abuse shelter. If anyone can provide a cite to any law in South Carolina that says you have to shoot a gun before going through an intersection to warn horses, I'll contribute $100 to the SPCA.
Happy hunting!
May 15, 2008 at 5:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ForPnC (anonymous) says...
Reader -
I'm glad someone noticed! That site is full of it. Literally! Most people don't know that site was originally built by two teenagers as a high school project. They put anything on it that's submitted without investigating.
I was trying to rile up a few people with the beating your wife and firing guns at intersections. Absolutely hilarious to me. Some people take life too seriously and I was sure that an argument would get started before my cover was blown.
Well... damn...
You just sucked all the fun out of that one, Man! LOL!
May 15, 2008 at 5:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
luvmydogs59 (anonymous) says...
Well, at least I won't have to put in 396 hours to get my concealed weapons permit. I'm not a cop or a renegade, it's only for my protection, and when I get that permit, I hope to hell that I'll never have to make use of it.
Speaking of stupid laws, there is one on the books in, I believe, Massachusets, but not positive. You can't have your cow in your bathtub on Sundays. Not for nothing, but I wouldn't want a cow in my bathtub any day of the week! LMAO
May 15, 2008 at 7:40 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Reader (anonymous) says...
LuvMyDogs59 wrote, "Speaking of stupid laws, there is one on the books in, I believe, Massachusets, but not positive. You can't have your cow in your bathtub on Sundays."
No. There is not.
And people wonder why Nigerian bank account transfer schemes continue working.
May 15, 2008 at 10:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cxxguy (anonymous) says...
Here's one ...
No matter how poor you are, or how badly you need to gain skills, or how badly you want to, it is actually against the law for you to work for less than $5.15 an hour!
That's bloody crazy! Sure, it would be nice if their was enough demand for labor that everybody's labor was worth at least that much, but if some kid wants to work for less in return for learning a skill, why should anybody object.
In any contract between two persons, the only right of non-participants is ... well ... not to participate!
May 20, 2008 at 5:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cxxguy (anonymous) says...
Well, at least I won't have to put in 396 hours to get my concealed weapons permit. I'm not a cop or a renegade, it's only for my protection, and when I get that permit, I hope to hell that I'll never have to make use of it.
Of course you're not ... cops don't need a CWP, and criminals don't bother with them. Only the law abiding hold CWP's.
May 20, 2008 at 5:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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