Months of staring at snow can get depressing after a while, undoubtedly because there’s a lack of color. No green grass, leaves on trees or pretty flowers in bloom.

Thank goodness for fun things like snowball fights, turning that carpet of white into something that doesn’t require accessories like skis, sleds or snowmobiles. You help friends and loved ones to chill out while hoping you have the skills to avoid feeling the frigid projectiles yourself.

So who would think to outlaw snowball fights? Where would be a place where the only thing you could do with the snow is shovel it off your driveway and sidewalks?

Welcome to Wausau, Wisconsin, a happy community otherwise despite the desire to keep fluffy flakes hitting curvy craniums. This city about an hour west of where I live has a law on the books saying that you could be fined if the police catch you throwing a snowball at your brother, sister, cousin, spouse, child, grandchild, grandparent or father’s brother’s cousin’s former roommate.

Here’s the city code, word for word, regarding the snowball ban: “9.08.020 Throwing or shooting of arrows, stones and other missiles prohibited: 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. This subsection shall not apply to archery ranges under the supervision of the park and recreation committee, nor shall it apply to the bow hunting provisions within 9.08.010.”

The law caught national attention a while back, as people in other states clutched their pearls upon learning that snowball fights could be forbidden. The Today Show, Fox News and other news outlets reported on the ban in December, according to Wisconsin Public Radio, with many of them indicating that the ban was something recent that came to pass in this age of political correctness.

Nope. This law came about in 1962, long before political correctness was trendy. I’m somehow envisioning task forces that today enforce seat belt laws and drinking and driving laws were at one time combing the streets looking for ragamuffins with white projectiles in their hands and ordering them to put their hands up and drop the snowball.

That’s a crazy bout of imagination, I know, but some of the laws that are created in this country are just as bizarre. Take Mobile, Alabama, where the sale of plastic confetti is illegal, which makes Mardi Gras a rather weird celebration. In Florida, bars can be fined up to $1,000 for conducting dwarf-tossing contests.

No, this isn’t me coming up with new ideas for my novels. These are laws that were in a report on Business Insider’s website.

Business Insider also reported that Colorado has a law outlawing weather modification. That concept might sound bizarre, but the article noted that ski resorts in the state shell out money to private companies to burn silver iodide on its slopes. That substance carries it into the clouds to stimulate precipitation.

Then there’s my home state of Arizona, where you can’t feed garbage to pigs without obtaining a permit. Seriously, I lived in the state for almost 35 years and had no idea that law was on the books. You are allowed to swap out a trough for a wastebasket if the pigs are for your own consumption.

Seriously, who comes up with these laws?

A report came across on Wisconsin Public Radio this week that Wausau is considering taking the snowball ban off of its books. Gee, I wonder what made the city council come to that conclusion? Perhaps the threat to winter tourism? After all, there have only been 10 citations for violating the snowball law written in the last 15 years, so if it’s not being enforced by hordes of police officers, maybe it’s not a big enough deal to keep the law on the books.

Wisconsin is no stranger to weird laws. The margarine ban of decades ago springs to mind, and then there’s the baked goods law where they could only be made in a commercial kitchen and not at Grandma’s house. Both of those laws have been repealed, and the snowball law should follow suit. It’s ridiculous at its core and yet another sign that some people should not have the power to dictate how the rest of us should live.

Have a merry Christmas, and don’t forget to throw a few snowballs—as long as you’re not in Wausau.