DENVER - As someone who spends an inordinate amount of time at the State Capitol, I've seen the sausage-making that is the legislative process up close and the motivations of lawmakers behind the bills are usually pretty apparent.
But if you want to know what was going through the mind of the lawmakers of yesteryear, who are responsible for some of the silliest statutes on record, you don't have much to go on but your imagination.
"If you consider that Denver city government was conceived and born in a bar where they were drinking and trying to figure out what to do, it might explain some of the crazy things the city does," said historian Tom Noel, better known as "Dr. Colorado".
In Denver, there are still laws on the books making it illegal to lend your vacuum cleaner to your next-door neighbor -- apparently, they guy across the street can go nuts with it; and driving a black car on Sunday is also against the law. Or, at least it was.
"These aren't enforced anymore, but no one's ever taken them off the books," Noel said. "If a modern, progressive person went through the ordinances of Denver, you'd probably take out three-fourths of them."
But since that hasn't happened, there's still existing laws banning llama grazing, dandelions, even bad-mouthing Colorado-grown produce.
Don't believe us? Watch this:
But if you want to know what was going through the mind of the lawmakers of yesteryear, who are responsible for some of the silliest statutes on record, you don't have much to go on but your imagination.
"If you consider that Denver city government was conceived and born in a bar where they were drinking and trying to figure out what to do, it might explain some of the crazy things the city does," said historian Tom Noel, better known as "Dr. Colorado".
In Denver, there are still laws on the books making it illegal to lend your vacuum cleaner to your next-door neighbor -- apparently, they guy across the street can go nuts with it; and driving a black car on Sunday is also against the law. Or, at least it was.
"These aren't enforced anymore, but no one's ever taken them off the books," Noel said. "If a modern, progressive person went through the ordinances of Denver, you'd probably take out three-fourths of them."
But since that hasn't happened, there's still existing laws banning llama grazing, dandelions, even bad-mouthing Colorado-grown produce.
Don't believe us? Watch this:
