The Soap Laws of Pine Valley, Pennsylvania

THE SOAP LAWS OF PINE VALLEY, PENNSYLVANIA was and is a collaborative effort of several readers of the rec.arts.tv.soaps.abc USENET group.

 
        THE SOAP LAWS OF PINE VALLEY, PENNSYLVANIA

        Hear ye, hear ye. Here lie the soap laws for the
        town of Pine Valley Pennsylvania, established 1683.
        
        To amend or change these laws, send your proposed
        addition or change to the city clerk's office
        (crash1@lucent.com) for consideration.
        
        These laws are numbered starting with a section number
        and terminating with a statute number, which will begin at
        one and increment for each individual statue in that section.
        
        Penalties for violations of the laws included within are left to
        the discretion of the trial court.
        
        New or revised statutes are denoted with a *.

        SECTION 0
        
        Section 0 contains special exemptions to Pine Valley laws.
        
S0.001  Joseph and Ruth Martin, Husband and Wife, are exempt from all
        laws contained herein, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
        
S0.002  Katherine Martin, also known as Kate Martin, also known as
        "Gran," now deceased, is exempt from all laws contained 
        herein, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

S0.003  Mona Kane Tyler, now deceased, is exempt from all laws contained
        herein, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

        SECTION 1
        
        Section 1 contains laws applicable to families in Pine Valley

S1.001  Residents are required to have a child somewhere of a 
        long, forgotten liaison.
        
S1.002  Residents who leave Pine Valley will have all records of their
        existence removed from all other residents memories within 14 days.

S1.003  Upon a resident mentioning a friend, loved one, relative,
        or prisoner, the aforementioned person is required to arrive in 
        Pine Valley within 60 days.
        
S1.004  If a resident of Pine Valley is involved in a happy love life,
        a past romantic interest or ex-spouse is required to arrive
        within 30 days.

S1.005  If a resident reaches the utmost happiness attainable in Pine
        Valley, the resident is required to die within 60 days. The final
        30 days of this time will be spent in intensive care at Pine Valley
        Hospital.

S1.006  Pregnancy is required to occur in the following instances:

        a) If a resident thinks that without a doubt, she 
           cannot become pregnant, 

        b) If the parents of the fetus end their relationship.
        
        c) If the parents of the fetus have intercourse once.
        
        d) If a resident has intercourse to spite another resident.
        
S1.007  Pregnancy is required to cause one of the following:

        a) the parentage is questionable
        
        b) The child will be born prematurely because the mother
           fell down the stairs or something or there will
           be other medical complications.

        c) If the child goes to term, the child will be not be born 
           in a hospital, but some other,
           usually isolated, locale.

S1.007.5        Any woman in Pine Valley who is pregnant must faint
        at least once, before anyone knows said woman is pregnant.

S1.008  If a resident proclaims over and over their love for another resident
        to anyone who will listen, The resident is in love with someone else.

S1.009  All Residents are required to have "little secrets" that no 
        one will ever tell.

S1.010  Secrets required is S1.009 are required to be revealed at the
        time that will cause the most possible damage to the resident.

S1.011  If two residents start off their relationship fighting or hating
        each other, they will eventually fall in love.

S1.012  No two biological parents can raise their child
        together in the same household.

S1.013  If two past lovers plan an evening out with different people,
        they are required to dine at the same restaurant.

S1.014  All children of residents are required to go to camp frequently.

S1.015  Infant children of residents are required to be doing one of the
        following at all times:
        
        a) preparing for a nap
        
        b) napping
        
        c) waking up from a nap.

S1.016  The child of any resident who is put up for adoption, kidnaped, 
        or stolen from the nursery will soon be adopted by someone close 
        to at least one of the biological parents, or must return to 
        Pine Valley at the worst possible time for the adoptive parent.

S1.017  Residents discussing private matters are required to do so
        in a room with the door open, allowing other residents to hear
        the conversation.

S1.018  Residents engaged in extra-marital affairs are required to do
        at least one of the following:
        
        a)have intercourse in a house in which they don't lock the doors,
          or perhaps even close the doors.
        
        b) leave the location of their next meeting in plain view.
        
        c) fail to use birth control
        
        d) the event is videotaped or the participants are caught on audio
           tape discussing the transgression.
        
S1.019  Intercourse between residents after the resolution of a relationship
        threatening matter is required to involve the following:
        
        a) lit candles

        b) several floral arrangements.
        
S1.020  Child residents age as follows:

        0,1,2,3,10,11,12,16,17.

S1.021  Adult residents of Pine Valley are not required to have 1 year
        added to their age every 365.25 days.
        
S1.022  Any newlywed couple who wants "lots" of children and wants 
        the first "right away" will have one of the following problems: 
        
        a) infertility, 
        
        b) pregnancy that ends in miscarriage (and sometimes 
           renders the woman incapable of further pregnancies), or 
        
        c) death of the expectant mother with the pregnancy continued to
           term by a woman with a strong emotional attachment 
           to the grieving father.

S1.023  All residents are required to have one of the following:

        a) identical sibling,
        b) sibling capable of taking over their lives, or
        c) person who looks identical to them, although they are not related.

S1.024  Any parent is allowed to sue the other parent for custody at any
        time. During the custody hearing, any past behavior of the plaintiff
        showing them to be an unfit parent is not admissable.

S1.025  Residents are prohibited from mentioning other residents sudden and
        unexplained changes in physical characterisitcs, including, but 
        not limited to, height, weight, eye color, hair color 
        and foot size.

S1.026  Any child that is adopted by a Pine Valley resident will have the
        natural parent or parents arrive in town shortly after their adoption.
        
S1.027  Any resident having conversing or corresponding with Erica Kane
        must include "Mona was a great lady" somewhere in the conversation
        or correspondance.

S1.028  Any male resident or nonresident conversing with Erica Kane is required
        to mention what a beautiful and amazing woman she is at least once.

S1.029  A resident's paternity is never definate.

        SECTION 2
        
        Section 2 contains laws applicable to Weddings held in PV, or
        Weddings of residents of Pine Valley married elsewhere, including
        Elk Green.
        

S2.001  Weddings of residents are planned almost instantaneously,
        no matter how elaborate.
        
S2.002  Weddings that are held in Pine Valley will be held as follows:

        a) must be religious. A cleric or another must officiate

        b) there will be a full scale orchestra, that will not be seen
        
        c) When the question is asked "does anyone know of a reason these
           two cannot be married....," there are several nervous glances.
        
S2.003  A crisis is required to strike within 24 hours of a wedding, 
        causing at least one of the following:

        a) the bride or groom to just make it in time
        
        b) the couple to doubt their future together
        
S2.004  If the Bride is seen in her wedding dress before the date of the
        wedding, the wedding is required to be canceled or postponed.
        
S2.005  Any wedding that is not planned and executed within 14 days is
        not allowed to take place.

S2.006  The Boutique is required to stock wedding dresses for all 
        female residents that are ready to be worn on a moments notice.

S2.008  Honeymoon trips are required to be cancelled due to family or other
        emergency. If a trip is taken, the residents are required to discover
        a long lost family secret.
        
        SECTION 3
        
        Section 3 contains laws applicable to transportation into, out of
        and within Pine Valley.
        

S3.001  All established residents of Pine Valley are allowed to use the
        Pine Valley Transporter system.

S3.002  No person, other than those allowed by S3.001, is allowed to
        view or use the Pine Valley Transporter system. Residents are
        prohibited from mentioning the Transporter, and must pretend they
        drove to their destination.

S3.003  If residents need to have a conversation on the way
        to their destination, they must either use a car, plane, or train 
        for at least a short amount of time.  also, the scenery outside of 
        the chosen vehicle does not have to match any known locality, and 
        does not even have to be consistent from one point of view
        to the next.

S3.004  Residents who wish to use their cars must do one of the following
        while in their car:
        
        a) have an accident
        
        b) be stopped by the police for speeding, or be otherwise
           hindered while on the way to a time critical destination
        
        c) become stranded
        
S3.005  Residents are not required to buy fuel for their cars.

S3.006  The Pine Valley Airport has direct flights to any major
        city in the world within a 24 hour period.
        
S3.007  Residents can buy an airline tickets at the airport. no
        reservations are needed.

S3.008  Residents are prohibited from suffering from jet lag.

S3.009  All residents can afford to fly first class or at least regular
        fare, regardless of the scheduling of their flight.

S3.010  Any resident driving on Old River Road is required to have an accident

S3.011  Time is completely relative in Pine Valley

S3.012  In keeping with S3.002, residents who drove somewhere will 
        still be offered (and accept) rides from others upon leaving.
        
S3.013  Residents who are driving are not required to watch the road or
        read any signs until an accident is immediately pending.

S3.014  Residents visiting other residents must always use the transporter
        so that while they are there, or more likely immediately after
        they leave, the next person arriving has no clue (from a car in
        the driveway or seeing the person leaving) that anyone is or has
        been there.


        SECTION 4
        
        Section 4 contains laws applicable to finance in Pine Valley
        
S4.001  Residents are not required to pay for anything.  
        If they decide to pay for an item, they always have enough.

S4.002  All residents of Pine Valley are required to have large sums
        of disposable cash at some time in their life.
        
S4.003  All children of Adam Chandler are required to have a
        minimum one million dollar trust fund.
        
S4.004  Residents who are employed are required to take unlimited time
        off at full pay to do one or more of the following:
        
        a)meddle, 
        b)schmooz,
        c)have intercourse, and 
        d)have lunch.
        
S4.005  Residents who amass a large fortune are required to lose said
        fortune to their worst enemy in town due to an ill advised
        business move.
        
S4.006  Residents who have lost their fortune is S4.005, will recover the
        fortune after a long illness.

S4.007  Residents are prohibited from sitting down at a desk to pay bills 

S4.008  Residents are required to have a grand dress or tuxedo for a party, no
        matter what their alleged financial condition is.

S4.009  A resident may not own more than 49% of the stock in a 
        public corporation, even if they originated the business.

S4.010  All residents of Pine Valley are required to be able to handle complex
        corporate financial matters without any apparent training.

        SECTION 5
        
        Section 5 contains laws applicable to health care in Pine
        Valley
        
S5.001  All doctors at Pine Valley hospital must be able to practice in
        any specialty except psychology and obstetrics.

S5.002  All patients at Pine Valley Hospital will receive state of the art
        treatment in a private room, regardless of their financial or
        insurance status.
        
S5.003  All residents are prohibited from having small ailments such as
        the following:
        
        a) flu
        b) headaches (unless it is the symptom of a brain tumor)
        c) stubbed toes
        
S5.004  Scarring is prohibited in Pine Valley Hospital.

S5.0045 Any doctor who has practiced at Pine Valley Hospital is allowed
        to use the super secret nonscarring techniques at any time.
        
S5.005  If a resident has a cold, other residents are prohibited from
        mentioning their raspy, hoarse voice or asking how they are. 
        Residents with colds are also prohibited from staying in bed 
        and blowing their nose.
        
S5.006  Female residents are prohibited from receiving pap smears

S5.007  Male residents are prohibited from receiving prostate exams.

S5.008  Only one psychiatrist is allowed to practice in Pine Valley
        at any time.
        
S5.009  Residents cannot be considered permanently infertile for
        any reason.

S5.010  There is only one floor, called the 4th floor, in the Pine
        Valley hospital.

S5.011  Any specialist practicing at Pine Valley Hospital are required to be
        "the best in their field."

S5.012  Specialists mentioned in S5.012 are required to be practicing 
        general medicine within 90 days of their arrival in Pine Valley.

S5.013  Residents of Pine Valley are required to withstand tremendous
        trauma, including, but not limited to, falls from bridges and
        aircraft.

S5.014  Residents who are presumed dead from trauma contained in S5.103
        are required to return to Pine Valley alive at the worst possible
        time for the other residents they interacted with.

S5.015  Doctors in Pine Valley are specifically prohibited from involking
        doctor-patient confidentially at any time.
        
S5.016  Patients at PVH will never exhibit any side effects of any
        medication they are currently taking.
        
S5.017  All residents of Pine Valley are allowed to access the
        Pine Valley Hospital records system.
        
S5.018  All doors in Pine Valley Hospital are required to have windows.

S5.019  All residents of Pine Valley have unlimited access to Pine
        Valley Hospital.
        
S5.020  When a resident of Pine Valley is severly injured or critically
        ill, all residents of Pine Valley must be informed of the
        seriousness of the situation before the injured or ill resident
        is informed of thier condition.

        SECTION 6
        
        Section 6 contains laws applicable to education in Pine Valley
        or education of Pine Valley residents in any location.
        
S6.001  Residents may attend the Pine Valley Schools at their leisure.
        Attendance is not required, nor will attendance records be kept.

S6.002  Residents will automatically graduate from Pine Valley High School.

S6.003  Any college-age resident, guest of a resident, family member
        of a resident, or distant acquaintance of a resident is 
        AUTOMATICALLY ACCEPTED into Pine Valley University, regardless
        of high school record, placement test scores, or ability to
        pay tuition.
        
S6.004  Pine Valley University is required to have the best program
        in the nation in any field of study a student is pursuing.

S6.005 Any student at Pine Valley University who is not studying in
        a accordance with S6.004 will be moved to Stanford University.

        SECTION 7
        
        Section 7 contains any laws that do not fit into the previous
        sections.

S7.001  Residents are prohibited from attending a Grateful Dead show

S7.002  The magazines in any location are required to be 80% Tempo back issues.
        The other 20% will be National Intruder, with stories about residents
        on the front cover.
        
S7.003  Any time a Resident is really stressed out, the following
        remedies are allowed:
        
        a) hot tea administered by Ruth, Myrtle, Mona or Peggy, or
        
        b) Tranquilizers prescribed by Dr. Joe Martin.
        
        c) Tranquilizers prescribed by Dr. Maria Santos.
        
        d) throw the most breakable and expensive object in the room.  
           If resident is Erica Kane, this option is required. 
        
        
S7.003.5 Anytime a resident uses the words 'NEVER' of 'ALWAYS' in a 
        sentence, the opposite is required to happen.

S7.004  A new resident is introduced a body part at a time and in the
        following order:  Feet, legs, back of the head, swinging arms, 
        voice, and then the face.

S7.005  Mentions of bodily functions are prohibited.

S7.006  Restrooms will be available for women only, and only used 
        when the women want a private place to talk and/or fight.

S7.007  Residents are prohibited from having pleasant dreams.

S7.008  All residents are required to awaken from dreams by sitting
        upright quickly and gasping.
        
S7.009  Pine Valley residents are required to suspend time after a probing
        question is asked of them.
        
S7.010  Residents suspending time in S7.009 must maintain eye movements
        so non-residents of Pine Valley will not suspect time has been
        suspended.
        
S7.011 Any PV resident who loses his/her wallet is required to have 
        an accident and develop amnesia within 15 days.

S7.012  Residents are prohibited from watching television or listening
        to a radio unless a news program with information critical 
        to the resident is being broadcast from the studios of WRCW.
        

S7.013  All female residents are required to wear a full face 
        of makeup and have their hair fixed impeccably 24 hours a day.

S7.013.5 All Female residents are required to wear high heels at all times.

S7.014  S7.013 may be suspended in rare cases when said person is 
        in a coma and/or near death.
        
S7.015  Famous residents of Pine Valley are entitled to use the Pine Valley
        Cloaking Feature, allowing the famous resident to go unnoticed while
        in other large cities. The Pine Valley Cloaking Feature does not
        function on other famous Pine Valley residents.

        SECTION 8
        
        Section 8 deals with courtroom proceedings in Pine Valley
        
S8.001  Any Pine Valley resident in a court action must be represented
        by a local attorney. If two Pine Valley residents are involved,
        one must be represented by a local attorney, and the other may
        be represented by an attorney from elsewhere.
        
S8.002  During any Pine Valley Trial, counsel must allow witnesses
        to ramble on and speculate wildly without objection.
        
S8.003  During any trial in Pine Valley, the defendant must
        have at least one emotional outburst. If Erica Kane is the
        defendant, this must occur daily.

S8.004  Any resident of Pine Valley is allowed to take and pass the bar
        exam, even if they have not attended law school. In this case, the
        resident will have appeared to have studied in the offices of
        Montgomery and Associates.
        
S8.005  Residents practicing law under section S8.004, will be required
        to represent high profile clients in their first case.
        
S8.006  Court orders issued in Pine Valley are valid in any part of the world.

S8.009  The police powers of the Pine Valley Police Department are valid in any
        part of the world.
        
S8.010  Police powers are granted to the current Pine Valley District
        Attorney.
        
*S8.011 If a resident is accused of a crime and subsequently clears 
        themselves, charges for any additional crimes committed 
        while attempting to clear themselves will be dropped.


© 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 David Vollman, Editor.