Crazy Laws in Arizona and Fun Facts

Remember the crazy law in Fairbanks, Alaska that prohibits moose from mating on city streets? Now you can read twelve of the craziest, weirdest laws ever enacted in the state of Arizona.

Are you asking why don’t they just take those crazy laws off the books? Perhaps because getting a state legislature to draw up a bill, getting the governor to sign it, waiting while it may be amended or modified, is costly and requires a lot of effort. That’s not what those politicians signed up for.

• Donkeys cannot sleep in bathtubs.

This is such a ridiculous, crazy law I had to do a little extra research. It seems in 1924 that the donkey owned by a local merchant began sleeping in an old discarded bathtub.

Then the town was flooded after a dam burst. The folks living in that town complained about using tax dollars to retrieve the damp ass.

• A man can legally beat his wife, but not more than once a month.

Can you imagine a disgruntled husband calling the local constabulary to announce: “Hi, this is Joe Schmoe. Tonight I’m gonna give my wife her monthly beating. For the record, I just wanted you guys to know.”

• Hunting camels is prohibited.

What the … ? There are camels in Arizona? I did a little more research and learned that in the mid-1800s, the U.S. Army imported hundreds of camels from Egypt to do the work of horses and mules, since they could thrive on less water, and carry more than twice the load of a packhorse.

The camel cavalry was abandoned when the Civil War began, and eventually the camels either wandered off from abandoned forts or were sold to private individuals.

• When being attacked by a criminal or burglar, you may only protect yourself with the same weapon that the other person possesses.

Pray that the intruder has nothing more than pepper spray. If the weapon is an AK-47 assault rifle, you’re in BIG trouble.

• It is illegal for men and women over the age of 18 to have less than one missing tooth visible when smiling.

I don’t understand this law. Less than one is none. Does this crazy law mean possession of half a tooth could get you in a whole mess of trouble?

• There is a possible 25 years in prison for cutting down a cactus.

The Saguaro cactus, treasured by Arizonians, has been endangered by those who find pleasure in shooting or cutting down cacti. Thus, a law was passed to protect the cactus.

Note: Legend has it that the barrel cactus is a good source of water in the desert. If you try it, I guarantee you will not like it. The juice created by crushing the cactus pulp would peel the skin off a rattlesnake.

• In Maricopa County, no more than six girls may live in any house.

If you’re thinking of establishing a House (if you know what I mean), do not hire more than six girls.

• In Hayden, If you bother the cottontails or bullfrogs, you will be fined.

So be fair to the hare and don’t give grog to the frog.

• In Mesa, it is illegal to smoke cigarettes within 15 feet of a public place unless you have a class 12 liquor license.

If you understand this crazy law, please let me know.

• In Nogales, a city ordinance prohibits the wearing of suspenders. Women can be fined up to $500 and men up to $1,000.

Must be a lotta droopy drawers there.

• In Tucson, it is illegal for women to wear pants.

That’s one way of handling the suspenders issue.

• In Prescott, no one is permitted to ride their horse up the stairs of the county courthouse.

But the law says nothing about riding your horse down the stairs!

• The state nickname is the Grand Canyon state. The Grand Canyon is 227 miles long, 1 mile deep, and has an average width of 10 miles.

• Arizona has more parks and national monuments than any other state, more mountains than Switzerland, and more golf courses than Scotland.

• Arizona has 60% of all the types of wildlife species found in North America. Big game species include bear, elk, antelope, big horn sheep, bison, mule deer, white tail deer, mountain lion, and wild turkey.

• The best-preserved meteor crater in America is located near Winslow, Arizona. Nearly 50,000 years ago, the huge nickel-iron meteor, weighing a few hundred thousand tons and traveling at a speed of upwards of 5 to 10 miles per second, slammed into the earth with such force that it destroyed all life for a hundred-mile radius. The crater measures 4,150 feet rim-to-rim and is 570 feet deep.

• Four Corners is the only spot in the United States where the boundaries of four states meet: the southwest corner of Colorado; the northwest corner of New Mexico; the northeast corner of Arizona; and the southeast corner of Utah.

• Turquoise is the state gemstone. Petrified wood is the official state fossil. Most petrified wood comes from the Petrified Forest in northeastern Arizona.

• Do you recall the roadrunner from the cartoon series? You can easily spot the real birds in Arizona. Sometimes, they can run at speeds of up to 17 mph if they sense danger.

• Arizona is home to about 13 species of rattlesnakes which is higher than any other state. The ridge-nosed rattlesnake is the state reptile.

• When the original London Bridge built in the 1830s began to sink into the Thames River in the 60s, it was replaced by a more modern concrete bridge.

Robert P. McCulloch Sr. purchased the original stones on April 17, 1968, at a cost of $2,460,000.

The 10,246 blocks were shipped to Arizona and reassembled over a lagoon at the edge of Lake Havasu City at a cost of $3 million. The Bridge opened in 1971.

• Wyatt Earp was NOT the town marshal or the sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona at the time of the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral. His brother, Virgil, was the town marshal, who had temporarily deputized Wyatt and Doc Holliday prior to the gunfight. That famous gunfight only lasted about 30 seconds.

• The famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral did NOT occur at the O.K. Corral. When the Earps and the Clantons shot it out in Tombstone, Arizona in 1881, their famous battle took place in a vacant lot between Fly’s Photograph Gallery and the Harwood House on Fremont Street. The O.K. Corral was located nearby. Its name became more memorable than Fly’s Gallery.

• The Capitol building of Arizona has a copper roof. The amount of copper that was utilized to make the roof is equivalent to that used in 4.8 million pennies.

• Copper is still extensively mined from many expansive open-pit and underground mines, accounting for two-thirds of the U.S. output.

• The 2002 movie, "Windtalkers," was a fictional drama based on the historic Navajo code talkers enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II. They provided crucial assistance as intelligence personnel since their language was unknown to almost everybody. Our military secrets and communications were safe since our enemies never understood the Navajo language.

Note: The Navajo are the largest American Indian tribe in the U.S. They live on the largest reservation of 17 million acres in the Four Corners area of the southwest. The states include Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and a small part of Colorado.

One of my favorite Will Rogers quotes: "A fool and his money are soon elected."

© Copyright BJ Rakow, Ph.D. 2015. All rights reserved. Author, "Much of What You Know about Job Search Just Ain't So."