L.A. City Council Bans "Silly String"

QueenOfTheFlock · Post by **QueenOfTheFlock** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 8:36 am

L.A. City Council Bans "Silly String"

YOU'LL GET MY SILLY STRING WHEN YOU PRY IT FROM MY COLD DEAD FINGERS!

No, we haven't seen that bumper sticker yet. But it may be coming soon.

On August 17, the Los Angeles city council voted to outlaw the use of "silly string" on Halloween.

Yes, silly string -- that gooey, brightly-colored, string-like aerosol foam that kids, party goers and other celebrants spray on each other.

Hey, stop laughing! This is a serious matter.

Just ask Councilman Tom LaBonge, sponsor of the ban.

"It's not silly at all," he told critics. Indeed, LaBonge says the ban is about serious stuff like stopping violence and protecting the environment.

The use of silly string, LaBonge and the anti-string forces say, sometimes starts fights at Halloween parties. "People get a little crazed at the end of the evening, and they shoot the spray into each other's faces," explained a spokeswoman for LaBonge.

(Which suggests a second bumper sticker: SILLY STRING DOESN'T START FIGHTS -- PEOPLE DO.)

And some environmentalists charge that the stuff isn't biodegradable, and when it drains from (government-owned) streets into the ocean, it harms marine life.

LaBonge's fellow commissioners hailed the ban and voted 10-0 in favor. The council now must approve the ordinance one more time for it to become law.

Violators will face fines of up to $1,000.

Of course, the Halloween ban is only the opening round.

As Councilman Bernard Parks told a local TV station: "We have the same problem during the Martin Luther King Jr. parade and a variety of open events that create a major clean-up problem once the event is over. I would like to see if we could expand this."

First Halloween, then every day? First Los Angeles, then... the rest of America?

Get those bumper stickers ready.

WHEN SILLY STRING IS OUTLAWED, ONLY CRIMINALS AND GOVERNMENT WILL HAVE SILLY STRING.

(Sources: Reuters:
http://www.enn.com/news/2004-08-19/s_26609.asp
NBC4TV:
http://www.nbc4.tv/news/3661058/detail.html )

Mercurygriffin · Post by **Mercurygriffin** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 8:51 am

I am totally agianst this. That is one of my rights as a loon. To have silly string ready for an unsuspecting people who need to take themselves a little less seriously. :twisted:

iblis · Post by **iblis** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 7:53 pm

They are so not taking away my spider-man gloves. :evil:

junkie christ · Post by **junkie christ** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 8:16 pm

iblis wrote:They are so not taking away my spider-man gloves.

:thwip:

ms.tangledwebs · Post by **ms.tangledwebs** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 4:30 am

Aw crap, I have a video that could send my 4 year old baby to jail!! Shhhh.... don't tell anyone but, when we were at my cousin's house, she got her hands on a spiderman glove and shot silly string at me, WHILE I TAPED IT!! I thought it was funny, I didn't realize I was allowing her to start down the path to a life of crime!!

div · Post by **div** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 9:46 am

I had the cops called on myself and my girlfriend for ambushing her younger brother with silly string as he walked out of the doors of his high school several years ago. We emptied 4 cans on him before the principal came out screaming. Some people just understand the concept of fun.