Persuasive Essay
Article/Option #1
Public Swearing In Middleborough, Mass. Now Subject To
Fine
Posted: 06/11/2012 3:01 pm EDT Updated: 08/12/2012 5:12 am EDT
MIDDLEBOROUGH, Mass. — Residents in Middleborough voted Monday night 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.
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."
Duphily, who runs an auto parts store, is among the downtown merchants who wanted take
a stand against the kind of swearing that can make customers uncomfortable.
"They'll sit on the bench and yell back and forth to each other with the foulest language. It's
just so inappropriate," she said.
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.
Matthew Segal, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said
the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the government cannot prohibit public speech just
because it contains profanity.
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 perhaps best known for its rich cranberry
bogs, has had a bylaw against public profanity since 1968. But because that bylaw essentially
makes cursing a crime, it has rarely if ever been enforced, officials said, because it simply
would not merit the time and expense to pursue a case through the courts.
The ordinance would decriminalize public profanity, allowing police to write tickets as they
would for a traffic violation. It would also decriminalize certain types of disorderly conduct,
public drinking and marijuana use, and dumping snow on a roadway.
Segal praised Middleborough for reconsidering its bylaw against public profanity, but said
fining people for it isn't much better.
"Police officers who never enforced the bylaw might be tempted to issue these fines, and
people might end up getting fined for constitutionally protected speech," he said.
Another local merchant, Robert Saquet, described himself as "ambivalent" about the noswearing proposal, likening it to try to enforce a ban on the seven dirty words of George
Carlin, a nod to a famous sketch by the late comedian.
"In view of words commonly used in movies and cable TV, it's kind of hard to define
exactly what is obscene," said Paquet, who owns a downtown furniture store.
But Duphily said, "I don't care what you do in private. It's in public what bothers me."
Persuasive Essay
Article/Option #2
See article in Persuasive Essay package.
Persuasive Essay
Article/Option #3
Police to set up in city schools
Kristin Rushowy - Education Reporter
Published On Tue Jun 24 2008
There won't be uniformed police officers roaming the halls of Toronto high schools.
But in a bid to improve safety and build relationships with teens, the Toronto District
School Board says police will set up an office in several high schools around the city.
"This will enable officers to get to know students better, and for students to get to know
officers better," said John Campbell, school board chair. He estimates more than 20 public
high schools, and five or six Catholic schools, will take part.
"It's so easy to put up barriers – it's easy for officers to see the negative side of teens and
easy for teens to see the negative side of officers. This changes the equation a bit."
The set-up will be "casual and low-key," Campbell added.
"I think we're going to have guys in blue slacks and golf shirts meeting with kids, and talking
to kids, and doing community development," he said.
Last month, the board approved an action plan in response to a January report by a safety
panel looking into conditions in the city's public schools.
That panel, headed by lawyer Julian Falconer, was struck following the shooting death of 15year-old Jordan Manners at C.W. Jefferys high school in May 2007.
Included in the board's action plan was a call for "positive police interactions with students
in school buildings," and a way to establish a friendly police presence, as well as boost
security.
Police Chief Bill Blair addresses trustees at their meeting tomorrow, where they'll have a
chance to ask questions about the program, among other issues, added Campbell. Trustee
Josh Matlow received a call last week asking if he'd be open to having such an office in one
of his secondary schools. "Some people have an issue, whether ideologically or out of fear,
of having police stationed at a school," said Matlow. "If you get past that, functionally, I
think it's a great idea...This is a proactive and preventative tool," he said.