Teton County Residents Fined If Christmas Lights Are Still Up

I just read a story in Cowboy State Daily that made me call out, "HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN IN WYOMING?" The Cowboy State Daily story has local interviews.

Apparently, in Teton County Wyoming, any residents who still have their outdoor Christmas up are in violation of county ordinances.

Just try that in states like Alabama, where people keep their Christmas lights up all year round.

Homeowners associations are bad enough.

City councils or county governments that act like homeowners associations are the worse.

This rule falls under county land use and development regulations.

You can have lights up, and in bushes and so on, from Nov. 15 through Jan. 10.

At this point, you have to ask- WHY?

The busybodies in the county say they want to reduce light pollution hazards, including disruption to stargazers and nocturnal wildlife.

Let's face it, they just made that crap up. It makes ZERO sense.

Okay so what happens if a resident doesn't take down their lights?

A code officer will mail an explanatory notice of violation.

So they have code officers going around looking to see who is in compliance. But they also have busybodies turning their neighbors in.

If the lights are not taken down after the warning then the county will issue a notice to abate which could lead to a hearing before the Teton County Board of Commissioners.

From there it's off to a District Court, where a judge could issue a fine of up to $750 per day. Yeah, you read that right.

This all began when Teton county won a "Dark Sky" award. They were honored and wanted to keep it that way.

Well, Teton County voted for these people.

If they decide they don't like it they can always vote for more freedom-loving Wyomingites.