Lance Knight
09-15-2006, 05:26 PM
Can you get arrested for that...?
www.metro.co.uk/weird
Friday, September 15, 2006
They are hardly Butch and Sundance and persistent criminals don't come much more harmless than Rich Smith and his mate Luke Bateman.
They embarked on a quest to break the silliest laws in America and recounted the journey in a top-selling book, You Can Get Arrested For That.
The mission was simple. Visit every US state and do something ludicrous.
Now it is to become a film produced by Harbour Pictures, the makers of Calendar Girls. Miramax, the movie giant run by industry mogul Harvey Weinstein, is also keen to get involved.
Mr Smith, 25, a student from Portreath, Cornwall, said: 'Of all the things we did my favourite one was playing cards with a Native American. An activity that is rumoured to be illegal in Globe, Arizona.
'I just waited in a pub for three hours for a Native American to come in, then I asked if he would play snap with me. He didn't know the game but after I showed him he beat me at it.
'The book came out a month ago and it's flying off the shelves in this country and we are on the fourth print run in America,' he added.
It all started with a trivia game on Christmas Day 2003. One of the questions was: 'What activity is it illegal for a divorced woman to do on Sunday afternoons in Florida?' That got them wondering what other absurdities were out there.
The two friends broke a mind-boggling number of stupid laws, including catching fish with a lasso in Tennessee to crossing the road while walking on your hands in Hartford, Connecticut.
Mr Smith added: 'Another of my favourites was in Oxford, Mississippi, where it's illegal to drive round the town square more than 100 times. I did it 101 times in under an hour.'
However, Mr Smith doesn't expect to be a Hollywood player overnight. 'It could be up to a year away before anything happens,' he said.
Incidentally, it is illegal on Sundays for a divorced woman in Florida to go parachuting.
Those rules they did break...and didn't
Some of the (alleged) rules they broke...
In Massachusetts it is illegal to wear a goatee in public
In New Jersey, it is against the law to offer a cigarette to a monkey
It's illegal to play a trumpet outside a store in California Drinking beer from a bucket while sitting on a kerb is prohibited in St Louis
In California it's illegal to peel oranges in a hotel room
It's illegal to slip on a fridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
It is illegal to eat water melon in Magnolia cemetery in Spartansburg, North Carolina
It is illegal to play golf in streets of Albany, New York
And a few they didn't...
In Ohio it's illegal to kiss for longer than five minutes
It's illegal to carry a bathtub across the town square in Long Meadow, Massachusetts
It's illegal to ride a bike in a swimming pool in Fort William, California
www.metro.co.uk/weird
Friday, September 15, 2006
They are hardly Butch and Sundance and persistent criminals don't come much more harmless than Rich Smith and his mate Luke Bateman.
They embarked on a quest to break the silliest laws in America and recounted the journey in a top-selling book, You Can Get Arrested For That.
The mission was simple. Visit every US state and do something ludicrous.
Now it is to become a film produced by Harbour Pictures, the makers of Calendar Girls. Miramax, the movie giant run by industry mogul Harvey Weinstein, is also keen to get involved.
Mr Smith, 25, a student from Portreath, Cornwall, said: 'Of all the things we did my favourite one was playing cards with a Native American. An activity that is rumoured to be illegal in Globe, Arizona.
'I just waited in a pub for three hours for a Native American to come in, then I asked if he would play snap with me. He didn't know the game but after I showed him he beat me at it.
'The book came out a month ago and it's flying off the shelves in this country and we are on the fourth print run in America,' he added.
It all started with a trivia game on Christmas Day 2003. One of the questions was: 'What activity is it illegal for a divorced woman to do on Sunday afternoons in Florida?' That got them wondering what other absurdities were out there.
The two friends broke a mind-boggling number of stupid laws, including catching fish with a lasso in Tennessee to crossing the road while walking on your hands in Hartford, Connecticut.
Mr Smith added: 'Another of my favourites was in Oxford, Mississippi, where it's illegal to drive round the town square more than 100 times. I did it 101 times in under an hour.'
However, Mr Smith doesn't expect to be a Hollywood player overnight. 'It could be up to a year away before anything happens,' he said.
Incidentally, it is illegal on Sundays for a divorced woman in Florida to go parachuting.
Those rules they did break...and didn't
Some of the (alleged) rules they broke...
In Massachusetts it is illegal to wear a goatee in public
In New Jersey, it is against the law to offer a cigarette to a monkey
It's illegal to play a trumpet outside a store in California Drinking beer from a bucket while sitting on a kerb is prohibited in St Louis
In California it's illegal to peel oranges in a hotel room
It's illegal to slip on a fridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
It is illegal to eat water melon in Magnolia cemetery in Spartansburg, North Carolina
It is illegal to play golf in streets of Albany, New York
And a few they didn't...
In Ohio it's illegal to kiss for longer than five minutes
It's illegal to carry a bathtub across the town square in Long Meadow, Massachusetts
It's illegal to ride a bike in a swimming pool in Fort William, California