Most of the country likes to poke fun at Arkansas for a variety of reasons, and many of the jokes that are made have something to do with questionable marriage practices. As a result, the state really can't afford to make mistakes in that area, but they have.
Before July 31, 2007, girls could marry at age 16 and boys could marry at age 17 both with parental consent. In trying to move to a more modern outlook on marriage ages, the legislature attempted to create a new law setting the minimum age at 18 across the board. Apparently everyone in the Arkansas legislature was educated in their fine home state, so the law came out reading thus:
"In order for a person who is younger than eighteen (18) years of age and who is not pregnant to obtain a marriage license, the person must provide the county clerk with evidence of parental consent to the marriage."
Did you catch that? Anyone under the age of 18 that is not pregnant can get married with parental consent. Quite effectively, they have created a law that does the exact opposite of what they intended. Basically, anyone can get married in Arkansas.
I imagine that it would be a boon for tourism. All the pedophiles are going to see the state as one big outlet mall for kids, and once they're married every other state will recognize their relationship as valid and legal. And all the kids that think they're old enough to get married are going to flock there in droves with handwritten forgeries of their parent's consent just to try their luck with the county clerk.
Move over Vegas. Arkansas is the new place to be for weddings.
In response to the mistake, a code revision commission tried to correct the mistake, but they couldn't get it done. Unbelievable. How hard is it to remove one word? Most places it's a few taps on the delete key, but I'm not sure they have computers yet. A bottle of whiteout doesn't cost that much, though, does it? Or are these guys still inscribing laws on stone tablets with a hammer and chisel?
My favorite, though, is a quote from one of their Senators, "You're either pregnant or you're not pregnant…Rarely will that be a typographical error."
Does that make sense to anyone else? I'm wondering if every once in a while an Arkansas doctor steps into the waiting room to address the family and says, "Well, folks, it was a good strong labor, and we did all that we could, but in the end we had to admit that it was just a typographical error. Sorry, no grandkids today."
1 comment:
glad you could use the article! I found it rather amusing myself....and I thought that one quote was rather strange, also!
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