This article is from a North Carolina news source which I found on Yahoo:
An overreaction? Darn right
The latest outfit to make us a national laughingstock is the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office. A deputy has filed criminal charges against a foul-mouthed high school student who used several words that are as common around high schools as acne.
Across the continent, and probably across the world, people are rolling their eyes and shaking their heads: What yahoos these Tar Heels must be.
To be sure, sorely beset teachers shouldn't have to put up with such talk and such contempt.
This bratty kid should have been suspended, which he was. He should have had his mouth washed out at home, which perhaps he didn't.
He should not have been charged with a criminal offense that could send him to jail for 30 days, although that might do him some good. Presumably prosecutors will realize that, so we won't have TV satellite trucks converging on Wilmington to beam the spectacle around the planet.
If it ever came to trial, the kid's lawyer might point out that his potty mouth was unlikely to provoke a violent response, which is what the no-bad-words law is designed to prevent.
The lawyer also might point out that none other than Vice President Dick Cheney used one of the very same words on the floor of the United States Senate – and in a confrontational way calculated to provoke a poke in the nose. Fortunately for Mr. Cheney, a New Hanover County sheriff's deputy was not present at the time.
The vice president, who is popular in evangelical circles, made no apology for his remarks. He said they made him feel better.
With role models like that, it's no wonder that high-school kids talk like sailors.
source:
http://starnewsonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll ... /FRONTPAGE
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This makes me a bit upset. I was charged with a Disorderly Conduct misdemeanor myself once in Texas when a madman cop stopped me on the highway(!) by throwing his body in front of my speeding vehicle. When I stopped, he said, "Wait here." Then, from the distance, another madman cop came running to me and got in my face with his spittle and proclaimed, "YOU FLICKED ME OFF!" Which I didn't. LOL!!! I had to go to court, where I won. LOL!!!
Here's another reason this makes me upset: First day of 10th grade, 1996. The busdriver gave me an assigned seat because of my talkativeness the previous year. I said, "Fuck......" Saying that word, which of course means, "I am unhappy with this unfair situation," got me suspended for "Battery of a school employee." That's just wrong.
Even though we don't know the whole 100% story, it doesn't matter in this case. At no time should a police officer step in over a student's use of verbage. That is something the school can take care of. If the school doesn't take care of it, the police should be more concerned with the school officials than the student. The point I want to get across with this topic is the Disorderly Conduct misdemeanor is too vague.
disorderly conduct - any act of molesting or interrupting or hindering or disquieting or agitating or arousing from a state of repose or otherwise depriving inhabitants of the peace and quiet to which they are entitled--
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/disorderly%20conduct and
http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictiona ... ly+conduct
Disorderly conduct is conduct of such a nature as to affect the peace and quiet of persons who may witness it and who may be disturbed or provoked to resentment thereby. It includes conduct that endangers public morals or outrages public decency and any disturbance of a contentious or turbulent character.--
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/mil ... 134-13.htm
Any definition I've ever seen is vague. There should be a stricter albeit evolving definition of disorderly conduct. It would probably help the police anyway because all too often, the defendant can walk away with the charges dropped.
And wtf is a no-bad-words law? What exactly is a "bad" word? No word is inherently bad, except maybe words like murder or rape. But fuck isn't inherently bad. Neither is ass, dick, cunt, bitch, hell, damn. Although I could see religious people branding hell and damn bad words, but I don't. However, no word is so bad that it should not be used. In fact most curse words are used to mean something entirely different than their literal meaning anyway. Usually they mean, "I was shocked!" or "I am mad at you!" or "This is unfair!" Curse words just get those points across more forcefully. That's why they're used. I think it's dumb people have branded certain words as "bad."
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