Nine Year Old Activists Overturns Anti-Snowball Fight Ordinance

In front of a packed Severerance, Colorado Town Board meeting, Dane
Best, 9, lobbies comuunity leaders to overturn a ban on snowball
fights. Photo by Sara Knuth/Greely Tribune 

I love it when kids re-enact the plot in the fictional movie "Footloose," in which a teenager gets a town to overturn a ban on dancing.

The situation I'm about to describe isn't exactly dancing, but it's still nice to see somebody overturning a stupid local ordinance.

The town of Severance, Colorado has long banned snowball fights. C'mon! Colorado in the winter? You gotta have snowball fights!

Enter Severance resident Dane Best, 9, who decided he CAN fight City Hall. And, spoiler: He won.

According to the Greeley Colorado Tribune, Best gave this simple but perfect argument before the Severance Town Board:

"The children of Severance want the opportunity to have a snowball fight like the rest of the world....The law was created many years ago. Today's kids need a reason to play outside."

BOOM!

You can't get a more persuasive argument than that. Why not let the kids of Severance experience the joys of children everywhere. At least in places where it snows And in this age of kids staying inside playing video games to the detriment to their physical health, wouldn't you want children to go outside and be active?

The anti-snow ball ordinance was part of an otherwise perfectly reasonable law that banned throwing missiles or stones at people or property. It's still illegal in Severance to throw stones and missiles, as it is in most if not all of America. Best didn't want the town to overturn that part of the law, and he promised never to throw a snowball with a rock inside.

But the snowball piece of the Severance ordinance is now officially off the books. After the Town Board meeting, the Greeley Tribune said Best and his little brother Dax, 4, went outside into Severance's snowy streets and threw the first legal snow balls in the town's history.

Severance Mayor Don McLeod also got into the act and tossed a snow ball or two.

This whole thing leads to a larger lesson for Best and any kid out there. Yes, you can change an injustice, but only if you put some effort into it.

Bottom line: The kids are alright.