6 Weird Washington & Oregon Laws Still On The Books

You hear about crazy, unusual, stupid, and insane laws all the time, and somehow they remain on the books year after year, even though they're completely ridiculous. Here's a short list of weird laws that are still enforceable in Washington and Oregon.

It's illegal to destroy someone's beer bottle in Washington unless you do this…

Just in case you ever get the urge to deface or destroy someone's beer bottle, fair warning, it's against the law in Washington. Yep, you can't do that…well, actually you can, but you could be fined .50 cents. The only loophole around this law is to get written permission from the beer bottle owner. I'm sure a simple text message will do. Crazy, huh?

You can't mount this machine on a utility pole in Washington unless you do this...

This law isn't actually stupid, it makes sense, I mean why the heck would someone mount a vending machine to a utility pole? What's crazy is it's not against the law as long as it's mounted 12 feet up the pole!

If the shoe fits wear it - but don't use a Shoe Fluoroscope

Using an x-ray machine to see if a pair of shoes fit is illegal in Washington and most other states. The reason behind this law might be obvious nowadays, but back in the 1920s and 1940s shoe stores were looking for a way to find the perfect fit so they installed a shoe-fitting Fluoroscope x-ray machine (pictured above). Well, it was a great selling point in the beginning, but the machines ended up being unreliable, and they exposed people to unhealthy doses of radiation. So, this isn't really a stupid law, it's a law preventing a stupid idea.

It's against the law in Washington to go out in public when you have a cold

I'm pretty sure all of us have broken this law - we have places to be and things to do, and we're not going to let a silly cold get in the way, right? Well, it's against the law to be in public with a cold in Washington. RCW 70.54.050 Exposing contagious disease is a misdemeanor. I think it should be against the law to go to work with a cold - that would be better and I'm certain everyone would follow that law.

It's illegal to drive on a busy street more than two times at night in this Oregon city

Oregon has its share of dumb laws too, and this is one of them. I'm sure it's way down the list of priorities of the Portland Police Department, in fact, I doubt they're even aware of the law. As crazy as it sounds, it is against the law to drive on a busy street more than two times in the evening hours in the city of Portland.

In this small Oregon town, it is illegal to be a soothsayer.

In the city of Yamhill, Oregon, it is against the law to predict the future. Even if you're just hanging out at the local café for some lunch, don't be making predictions about the future, don't prognosticate over the elections coming in November or what the weather will be like in a few hours - you will be breaking the law! Will it land you in jail with a fine? I predict, no - it's highly unlikely, but who knows what the future really holds, things might be different next week, only the time will tell, and I'm pretty sure Nostradamus wouldn't approve of this law.