Share this post  v26_profanity_lawIssue: Residents in
Middleborough, Mass. have voted to make the foul-mouthed pay
fines for swearing in public. At a town meeting, residents voted
183-50 to approve a proposal from the police chief to impose a
$20 fine on public profanity. Officials insist the proposal was
not intended to censor casual or private conversations, but
instead to crack down on loud, profanity-laden language used by
teens and other young people in the downtown area and public
parks.  The measure could raise questions about First Amendment
rights, but state law does allow towns to enforce local laws
that give police the power to arrest anyone who "addresses
another person with profane or obscene language" in a public
place. The ordinance gives police discretion over whether to
ticket someone if they believe the cursing ban has been
violated. Middleborough, a town of about 20,000 residents, has
had a bylaw against public profanity since 1968. But because
that bylaw essentially makes cursing a crime,