Massachusetts town orders $20 fines for the minimum of cuss

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Massachusetts town orders 20 fines for the minimum of cuss

Associated Press in Middleborough, Massachusetts
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 June 2012 12.17 BST

Residents in a town outside Boston have voted in favour of fining people who swear in public.

At a town meeting on Monday night, residents voted 183-50 to approve a proposal from the police chief to impose a $20 (£12) penalty on public profanity.

Officials insisted the proposal was not intended to censor casual or private conversations, but instead to crack down on loud, profanity-laden language used by teenagers and other young people in the city centre area and public parks.

"I'm really happy about it," Mimi Duphily, a store owner and former town selectwoman, said after the vote. "I'm sure there's going to be some fallout, but I think what we did was necessary."

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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/jun/12/massachusetts-town-fines-swearing

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

1. $20 for swearing? That's fucking nuts! Oh, shit, now it's $40, dammit

a night on the town could get expensive.

[Dawgs]

2. I hope these people don't travel to Ireland much.

They have no problem saying 'fuck' in public.

[Ian David]

3. Fuck Middleborough. n/t

[pinto]

4. One thing I miss about Massachusetts - Town Meetings.

Anything and everything can come up for a vote...

[hobbit709]

5. Like when someone where I once worked told me he didn't want to hear me cussing.

I replied, "It's my birthday and I'm so fornicating happy I could just defecate!"

[Fozzledick]

6. I wonder how much this is going to cost the town in damages and legal fees

for violating 1st amendment protected civil rights to free speech?

[4th law of robotics]

8. self delete

[4th law of robotics]

7. Ha, I tricked myself

At first I thought: no way, first amendment trumps this, can't be real story. Then I saw that it was the Guardian and the fines were in pounds and thought "oh ok, that makes sense".

Then I read the story and saw I had it right the first time.

Fuck, still too early. Need my goddamned coffee.