9-Year-Old Boy Overturns Town's Snowball Fight Ban

December 4, 2018 12:40 PM EST

A young Colorado boy has successfully convinced the town of Severance to overturn its nearly century-old ban on snowball fights.

With his younger brother in mind as his first target, 9-year-old Dane Best laid out his case for making snowball fights legal at a Severance town board meeting Monday night. Board members then voted unanimously to lift the ban, according to CBS News.

“The children of Severance want the opportunity to have a snowball fight like the rest of the world,” Best argued, according to to local newspaper The Greeley Tribune. “The law was created many years ago. Today’s kids need a reason to play outside.”

The rule, which town officials think had been around since the town’s 1920 founding, is part of an ordinance that strictly forbid people from shooting or throwing missiles or stones at people, animals, trees or property. However, the snowball aspect wasn’t enforced.

“All of the kids always get blown away that it’s illegal to have snowball fights in Severance,” Kyle Rietkerk, assistant to the Severance town administrator, said before the meeting. “So, what ends up happening is [town leaders] always encourage the kids with, ‘You have the power, you can change the law.’ No one has.”

Looks like Best did just that.

—ILLEGAL SNOWBALL FIGHTS?—

A 9yo Severance boy (shown illegally throwing snowballs with his brother) will go before town council tonight, to argue why a 98yo ban on snowballs should be nullified...just in time for the snowy #Colorado winter ahead.

More on his pitch @CBSDenver 6 pic.twitter.com/vq6jh06RY6

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