Pinball Desperados in Anaheim Will Be Allowed to Play at Full Tilt

Playing ball in the street? In Anaheim, it’s a misdemeanor punishable by $1,000 and six months in jail.

Own a pinball machine? Ditto.

And women shouldn’t even think about working at a shooting gallery.

Anaheim officials are doing a little housekeeping and whittling down the city’s bulky municipal code. Tonight, the City Council is scheduled to consider repealing or modifying several ordinances that officials call outdated, redundant or just plain silly.

The unlucky task of poring through decades of laws and thousands of ordinances fell to City Atty. Jack White, who said he had collected arcane gems that may come in handy only at cocktail parties or if he became a “Jeopardy!” contestant.

He knows, for example, that in the 1940s and ‘50s, pinball was considered gambling.

The change in the law is welcome news for Terry McIntire, an owner of Orange County Game Distributors Inc., who said that if authorities cited him for all his pinball machines, “we would be old and gray by the time we got out” of jail.

In most cases, authorities realized the absurdities of these ordinances and stopped enforcing them years ago.

These code changes are part of a broader Municipal Code revision that reduces the penalties on the laws that aren’t so outdated and allows for citations without the immediate threat of jail.

The City Council has already approved some code changes.

Anaheim isn’t the only city with antiquated rules.

Until last year, it was illegal for couples in Rolling Hills to engage in adulterous liaisons in beds, buildings, cars and public places. And in 1989, in response to complaints from bird lovers, Orange proclaimed it was not the “pigeon police” and wiped out a law that prohibited a resident from owning more than five birds.

It has been a time-consuming task, White said, though also entertaining.

Ordinance 8.04.060, for example, requires people to inform the police chief two hours before driving a herd of sheep, goats, cattle or swine through the city -- but only if it’s done between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

“We don’t have many cattle drives coming down Lincoln Boulevard anymore,” White said.

He began studying the code in earnest about six months ago, after the City Council realized that a person rustling through trash in search of recyclables could be hauled off to jail.

“It made me think, ‘What else is in the code that also seems overly restrictive and harsh?’ ” Councilman Tom Tait said.

Among the misdemeanor violations White discovered: spitting on the sidewalk, tossing a banana peel on the ground and roller skating on a roadway.

Even an incompetent could wind up in jail if he takes out a divot or wades into a water hazard in search of an errant golf ball. City officials may have eliminated jail time, but when it comes to a double bogey, bad golfers are still on their own.

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On the books

The Anaheim City Council is scheduled to vote tonight to repeal, reduce penalties or change a number of city codes, including:n Ban on possessing pinball machines.

* Ban on playing ball in the street.

* Ban on roller skating on city sidewalks or streets; skateboarding on city sidewalks except in business districts where signs are posted giving notice of such prohibition: reduce penalty for violations.

* Ban on females working at shooting galleries.

* Requirement that wood be sold by the cord.

* Regulations concerning distribution of comic books and other publications.

* Ban on driving or herding animals during certain hours.

* Ban on expectorating on public property.

Source: Office of the City Attorney, Anaheim