A nine-year-old boy from a small, wintry town in Colorado was able to throw his first (legal) snowball at his younger brother after he convinced council leaders to repeal a nearly century-old ban on snowball fights.
On Monday night, Dane Best gave a presentation before board members for the town of Severance, Colo. arguing for the end of a ban on snowball fights within the town’s limits.
“I thought it was unfair that you can’t throw snowballs in Severance and it was an outdated law,” Dane explained to CTV News Channel on Wednesday.
The snowball rule is part a larger ordinance – dating back to 1920, according to town officials – that makes it illegal for people to throw or shoot missiles or stones within the town’s legal limits. Under the law, a snowball was classified as a “missile.”
According to Dane, that designation isn’t accurate because snowballs aren’t made “with rockets inside of them.”
In preparation for his presentation, Dane said he did a lot of “extra homework” on the town’s laws and collected letters and signatures in support of overturning the ban.
“I was proud to watch his journey,” Brooke Best, Dane’s mother, said. “He did all the work himself, so it was a proud moment.”
Although the town is still waiting for snow, Dane said plans are already underway for a gigantic town snowball fight as soon as the time is right.
The intrepid nine-year-old also has some advice for other young people interested in becoming involved in civic politics.
“It doesn’t matter how old you are to have a voice in your town,” he said. “You can change a lot.”
