By Attorney Jason G. Doyon
With summer and sunshine comes outdoor birthday parties. This past weekend, I was at a birthday party for my 2 year old godson whom I’ll call, “Junior”. As part of the decorations, there were large bundles of balloons tied on some of the picnic tables and chairs. Junior, being the two year old that he is, walked over and slid one of the bundles off of the chair, and into the sky went 7 or 8 balloons.
His mother walked over and told him that he was going to get into big trouble if he did that again.
Needless to say, the first thought that came into my head was, “How much trouble can he really get into? Maybe his parents are upset with him for about a minute and then they get over it, right?”
The next thought was whether there was some type of law concerning the release of balloons in Connecticut. After all, there are seemingly all sorts of laws on anything imaginable in Connecticut.
So upon getting to work, I spent a few minutes in the statutes and low and behold there actually is a law on the release of balloons.
Connecticut General Statutes §26-25c states:
No person, nonprofit organization, firm or corporation, including the state and its political subdivisions, shall knowingly release, organize the release of or intentionally cause to be released into the atmosphere within a twenty-four-hour period ten or more helium or other lighter-than-air gas balloons in the state. Any violation of subsection (a) of this section shall be an infraction.
Often times when reading some of these statutes, I wonder who had the time to think up these laws, and how the discussion began.
Needless to say, the next time that I see Junior, I will inform him of this law so that his birthday money doesn’t go towards paying a fine.
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Attorney Jason G. Doyon is a lawyer engaged in the general practice of law at 33D South Main Street in East Windsor, Connecticut. He can be reached by phone at (860) 292-1060.
I thank Attorney Doyon for sharing his thoughts on Connecticut law with the readers of this blog.
great tips. I enjoyed reading this
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The next thought was whether there was some type of law concerning the release of balloons in Connecticut. After all, there are seemingly all sorts of laws on anything imaginable in Connecticut.
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Excellent post. thanks for posting it, I enjoyed it.
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I am a Criminal Defense Lawyer in California so if junior need council I will do it for free. Thanks for such an enjoyable and cute read.
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I just came across this blog entry, though I see it's a bit old. Just wanted to let you know that elementary school students at Turkey Hill School in Orange, CT were actively involved in getting this law passed in the '90s. I know because I was one of them
We formed a group called S.K.O.A.F. (Stop Killing Our Animal Friends) – of which I was co-founder and president, if I remember correctly. Amusing, and although I don't remember how our little group fit with the bigger picture in getting this law into effect, it's at least a partial answer to your question about how the discussion about this law might have played out!
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This was an awesome post. That you even thought to look up a regulation governing the release of balloons shows that you are very creative.. Keep up the great work and I look forward to reading some more of your work.
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Ok Jason. Nice to know a little about you before we head to trial.
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Sea turtles, including endangered turtles in Long Island Sound try and eat deflated balloons and die. Godd enough reason for an law? Besides it is also littering.
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