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- CURSES!: Troopers Cite Folks for Swearing
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A Pennsylvania woman is fighting back against state troopers for being cited for swearing at a motorcyclist after he swerved at her and yelled something derogatory about her weight. The woman, Lona Scarpa, called police to report the incident and the police wrote her a citation for swearing. The ACLU has filed suit in her name, saying that swearing is protected under the First Amendment. Swearing is rude, but not a crime, they contend. Pennsylvania state troopers have cited 770 people in a one-year period for swearing.
MOMism: “Watch your mouth.” We teach our kids to mind their P's & Q's and ‘use their big boy/girl words.’ Grown ups need to mind their manners, as well. But, come on...who doesn't slip up every once in a while? Sometimes a certain swear word just fits a situation perfectly?!?#@! We know, we're sorry. But, we're just saying...adults should watch our mouths, but if we slip up, the police shouldn't be issuing a ticket for it. Don't they have more pressing criminal behavior to monitor? Since when did they start manners patrol? MAMAS should be on manners patrol.
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imanerd36
Look up the Supreme court case "Cohen v. California." Swearing and having swear words printed on objects is legal to do in public, end of story.on 06/06/10Reply -
windysluter
it puts troopers in a bad situation. some 'curses' ARE illegal. any racial slur is considered a hate crime. i wouldn't want to be in the position of legislating what exactly 'free speech' means.on 05/17/10Replysnflwrshell
In looking up the hate crime bill that was passed about 8 months ago, a racial slur, in itself, does not contitute a hate crime. A hate crime must involve physical harm or other crime that would otherwise be prosecutorial, then in addition reasonable evidence that racism, sexism, homophobic, etc., is at the root of the crime. I found this interesting because after this bill passed, which included both sexism and homophobia, many religious leaders were up in arms, stating that preaching against homosexuality would cause them to be prosecuted for hate crimes. But this was proven to be a false assumption. People still have the right to make racial slurs and be homophobic, as long as they don't harm someone physically.on 05/18/10Reply
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cocoljackson
Sounds like they need more money so they are finding creative ways to get it, but come on, there are a lot more pressing issues that need police attention than the occasional bad language used when someone is being a total jerk!on 05/17/10Reply -
YoGabbaMama
Having been a Police Officer before becoming a Mommy, I think this is insane. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion & their "speech" is protected by the First Amendment. I think the State Troopers need to take a long hard look at their policy because this is going to cost a lot more money than they are bringing in from the 770 tickets that have been written on this. It is officers who write tickets like this, that give cops a bad rap, which in turn makes our jobs just a little bit harder.on 05/16/10Reply -
snflwrshell
I agree completely! I wonder who determines what is cursing and what isn't. Some people consider the word, "damn" to be cursing, while others do not. Do we need police officers determining what is appropriate to say during given situations? This is the domain of moms! Not police! (Talk about a police state)on 05/14/10ReplyNoelle81177
I totally agree. I think taking the Lord's name in vain or intentionally "cursing" someone is a curse, the rest is "cussin'" as we say in the south. It may be rude and crude but not illeagl!on 05/16/10Reply
ocmama
This is exactly why I love this site! Who knew? I agree...monitoring cursing is a moms job, not the police. Go catch some terrorists!on 05/16/10Reply
