Recently in Bizarre Bureaucracies Category

After announcing his candidacy only a few days earlier, Republican Mark Schimel has pulled out of the race against his estranged wife, Democrat Michelle Schimel. The couple separated last year after 32 years of marriage, NBC New York reports. They had two children together.

Michelle is serving her third term in the New York State Assembly. Mark was competing for her spot.

So why did the Republican candidate suddenly decide to exit the race for the State Assembly seat?

A Minnesota high school student's plan to bring a porn star to his prom has been shot down by his school district.

Mike Stone, 18, devised an ingenious ploy to turn himself into a legend at Tartan High School. The student sent out tweets to hundreds of porn actresses online, inviting them to be his date to his prom, USA Today reports.

And not just one, but two actually replied back and accepted.

Cities are always looking for new ways to target graffiti, but San Francisco's recently released free iPhone app, Graff City, is certainly an innovative plan.

Using the iPhone's digital camera, the app presents an image of the user's surroundings. He can then use a finger to digitally spray paint--or virtually tag--any surface within the camera's view.

That image can then be emailed or uploaded to Facebook for "bragging" rights.

A group of kids in Montgomery County, Maryland had wonderful intentions when they opened their U.S. Open lemonade stand this week outside the country club where the major golf tournament is taking place.

They were going to sell lemonade and donate half the proceeds to charity.

Too bad Montgomery County authorities shut them down.

Say you're in the business of stripping and giving lap dances. Tax deductible? Nice try, but no.

At least, so says a New York Court. Nite Moves, a New York strip club trying to appeal a $125,000 tax on its lap dances from a 2005 audit, argued that the lap dances were "dramatic or musical art performances" and therefore tax exempt, reports Reuters.

The court was not convinced, ruling instead that the lap dances were in fact rightfully taxable, according to Reuters.

Bummed about having to pay taxes? You're not alone. Romanian witches are threatening to cast a spells with dog feces on the Romanian government over new labor laws that would force them to pay taxes on their income. Witches, in addition to, fortune tellers, models, valets and astrologers are vowing to hex the government for its taxing ways.

 In addition to being reclassified as those practicing in a professional trade, under a new classification, they would have to declare their income and pay taxes on it.

The laws are designed to fight tax evasion, according to the Romanian government. The law will force Romanian witches and other related professionals to register their professions and pay 16% in taxes, as do other self-employed Romanians.

Teens in New York were busted by police for illegal sales recently. It's not what you might think, however. The 13-year-olds weren't charged with selling drugs, they were busted for selling cupcakes.

Young entrepreneurs Andrew DeMarchis and Kevin Graff were turned in to local cops for running their illegal operations selling cupcakes, cookies, brownies and other items that were a threat to public safety. According to the New York Daily News, when local Councilman Michael Wolfensohn spotted the stall the kids were running with two schoolmates, he promptly ratted them out. A sheepish police officer had to actually go tell the kids that they were being shut down.

The scene: two friends, Steve and Jim, are watching TV at Steve's house on a Thursday evening.

Steve: The Senate passed a bill to lower the volume of television commercials. 

Jim: What?!? 

Steve: The Senate passed a bill to lower the volume of television commercials. 

Jim: (points at commercial blaring on TV) Can you turn down the TV? Make the commercials quieter!!! 

Steve: I just turned down the TV a minute ago. That's what I'm talking about. When the commercials come on, it gets louder. 

Jim: Who is prouder? 

Steve: Louder. 

Jim: Louder? No. Turn it down. 

Steve: Forget it.

Should there be policies at the FAA for "bring your kids to work" days? The Federal Aviation Administration is conducting an investigation. The reason for the probe -- a child was overheard in an air traffic control tower directing air traffic at John F. Kennedy Airport.

Gasp! A supervised child in an air traffic control tower? What could be worse? 

Well, a plane crash for one. But there were no safety incidents nor any plane crash under this child's watch. In fact, as reported by CNN, the child was supervised by the father, in addition to other air traffic controllers, and did not do anything to endanger the safety of the planes. 

The Federal Aviation Administration is all tied up in knots over this incident, where a father allegedly brought his son to work with him and let him make five transmissions. The child was under the supervision of the father, an air traffic controller. The FAA cites the unprofessionalism of the incident despite the fact that none of the pilots appeared visibly disturbed by the incident.

Removing your front lawn to save water kind of sounds like a good idea, right?

Wrong. It's especially not recommended if you live in Orange California.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Orange officials are locked in a legal battle with a couple accused of violating city ordinances for removing their front lawn in an attempt to save water. City codes require that live landscaping cover 40% of the yard.

Now the couple faces misdemeanor charges for removing their front lawn.