Too Many Laws

In fact, one Suffolk County Legislator, Steve Levy, runs a contest for students in which he invites them to compete in dreaming up new legislation. He recently publicized a winning entry from a young man who dreamed up a law to protect boaters from running into crab traps.

All of which made us wonder whether there shouldn't be a prize for those who save us from still more laws. If there was such a prize, and maybe there should be, we would award it to the citizens of Massapequa Park, who rose up in a public hearing this week to protest laws their village board had dreamed up. The local lawmakers had drafted a measure penalizing homeowners for storing boats deemed too big for the size of the lot. The Village board proposed all sorts of penalties for homeowners who ruined the view with protruding prows and sterns, even included a jail sentence for the worst offenders.

Massapequa Park's yachting fraternity would have none of their intrusion into their property rights, and under protest, the village board retreated. The result, one less law. You could call that progress.