WEE, WEE, WEE, ALL THE WAY TO COURT
Did you know that Tacoma, Washington has a law that could ban Harley-Davidson motorcycles? According to the News Tribune, an interesting court case has developed involving the owner of a hog, city prosecutors are arguing that the owner is violating a law banning hogs in the city limit. Taking his case to superior court, it appears that Harley-Davidson motorcycles could be banned within the city limits.
While this court case is really about the definition of a “hog” the definition in the book city prosecutors are using define a hog as:
- Black’s Veterinary Dictionary, which defines a hog as a “male pig after being castrated.”
- Collins Essential English Dictionary’s first definition of hog is a “castrated male pig.”
- Encarta defines hog as “a full-grown domestic pig, especially a castrated male pig.”
- But www.dictionary.com defines hog as slang “a large, heavy motorcycle.”
Luckily the court case is really about animals and the defense lawyer was just using the hog definition of a motorcycle as an example of how the city was using the wrong terminology. But it does go to show that the wrong interpretation of an old law on the books could really impact motorcycles owners, at least in Tacoma.
Hopefully they get the law straightened out and decide on what really is a hog and what ain’t, so bikers can ride into town without “breaking” Tacoma’s anti-hog laws.