TNB Night Owl – Weird State Laws WISCONSIN

Let’s take a drive through the Cheese State to find some weird laws!

• Wisconsin Statutes Section 146.085 says the “owner or manager of any public building” may not allow “an admission fee to be charged for the use of any toilet compartment.”
• City Code, Section 70-153 which states that “No persons shall, with purpose or intent, sprinkle their property in any manner to the distress or annoyance of others.”
• Lots of folks focus in on the Wisconsin law that says cheese should be “highly pleasing,” but that’s actually only for AA Cheddar. B Cheddar only has to be “fairly pleasing.” But the Wisconsin Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Rules surrounding cheese are way more odd. They don’t define what makes cheese any form of pleasing, but they do define 18 terms for flavor characteristics of cheese and 20 for body and texture characteristics, all of which have further regulatory definitions.
• State statute 86.025 says you cannot camp in a wagon on a public highway
• Wausau Municipal Code Chapter 9.08.020 states that “No person shall throw or shoot any object, arrow, stone, snowball or other missile or projectile, by hand or by any other means, at any other person or at, in or into any building, street, sidewalk, alley, highway, park, playground or other public place within the city.”
• “Whenever two trains meet at an intersection of said tracks, neither shall proceed until the other has.” No one can be quite sure with this wording, but it seems like one train is being told not to run into another one and that this needed to be legislated is disconcerting to say the least.
• An old Milwaukee law that was meant to cut down on vagabonds still exists and says that “offensive looking” folks can’t be in public during the day. It’s pretty subjective, pretty offensive and more than a bit discriminatory
• Drivers have to yield right of way to livestock on public roads thanks to statute 346.21.
• According to state Statute 944.16, adultery is a Class I Felony punishable by $10,000 and three years in jail. This one’s been on the books since 1849, but that doesn’t make it any less relevant. Not sure if adultery was rampant or if the legislature was just trying to get ahead of the problem, but the severity of the law was meant to be discouraging.
• It’s illegal to harass a seeing-eye dog and while that seems like a no-brainer, think about how often folks gush over service dogs in public even when the dog is wearing a vest that says they’re working and shouldn’t be petted. You might not think your urge to pet the dog is a nuisance, but guaranteed the person who needs that dog does
• In Racine, it’s illegal to wake up a firefighter when they’re sleeping. So please go ahead and plan your fire emergencies accordingly
• It’s illegal to play checkers in public, because it’s also illegal to say “king me.”
• Margarine is illegal

QOTN: What are your best theories to explain why these laws were put into place?

Sources: Forest Grove Strange Laws, Only In Your State WI