Community Corner
After Tuesday, It’ll be Legal to be Annoying in Michigan’s Second-Largest City
Throw a tantrum. Photobomb and be a jerk. Talk about your diverticulitis and other maladies. It's annoying to whine, but soon, legal in Grand Rapids.
Stop that. It’s annoying.
But soon, not illegal – in Grand Rapids, anyway.
Michigan’s second-largest city is poised to overturn a ban on annoying behavior, ABC News reports.
Find out what's happening in Dearbornwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The law stating “no person shall willfully annoy another person” has been on the city books for 38 years, but City Attorney Catherine Mish has requested its removal, saying it’s vague, archaic and unconstitutional.
"An ordinance is vague if a person of ordinary intelligence can't differ its meaning," Mish told ABC News, "and annoyance is in the eye of the beholder.”
Find out what's happening in Dearbornwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Grand Rapids City Commission is expected to strike down the law at a meeting next Tuesday.
Mish has been scouring codes for other archaic – and perhaps annoying – laws. Last year, laws prohibiting horseback riding on sidewalks and laws punishing failure to return a library book with jail time were rescinded, the Grand Rapids Press reports.
DISCUSS: What's the most, ahem, annoying law on your city's books? Tell us in the comments if you think it should be removed and why.
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