Woman gets ticketed for dropping f-bomb in a Walmart
 

Wow. Can we finally say backwoods Texas is a "special" place? :spock:

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?se...cal&id=6325920
Mother ticketed for swearing in Wal-Mart

By Laura Whitley

LA MARQUE, TX (KTRK) -- A woman is in trouble for cursing inside a busy store in La Marque. An assistant fire marshal heard her, and wrote her a ticket on the spot.

But investigators say that's not the only reason she ended up with a citation. The incident happened inside the Wal-Mart off I-45, the night before Tropical Storm Edouard hit.

"She should have gotten a ticket. She's lucky she didn't go to jail," said one shopper.

The woman was responding to a recent incident which sent a mother home with a ticket for cursing in public.

The shopper continued, "Because, you're in public. You can't do that."

That's exactly what La Marque's assistant fire marshal, Alfred Decker, tried to tell Kathryn Fridge, 28, when he allegedly overheard her use the 'f-word' in the store last week.

"He said, 'Ma'am, please refrain from using that language. You're not allowed to cuss in public like that,'" explained La Marque Fire Department Chief Todd Zacherl.

Zacherl spoke on Decker's behalf. He said the officer's warning to Fridge was only met with more expletives.

"I think he just originally went to just ask her politely not to use that type of language," Zacherl said. "Things escalated to the point where he had to do something. He couldn't just walk away."

The single mother walked away with a ticket, and concerns, say the chief, about his assistant fire marshal's actions. Zacherl says as far as he can tell, Decker responded appropriately.

"He said he did have to place cuffs on her in the parking lot because he couldn't get her to calm down," Zacherl said.

Cursing in public is certainly not a federal case. But people do get in trouble for it, just usually not at a Wal-Mart.

Zacherl explained, "These are the type of tickets you would find around the Kemah Boardwalk, things like that, or outside of a bar or something."

Most people we spoke with about the incident sided with the officer, but not everyone.

"It depends on what the reason is," said one woman. "She might have had a reason. She could have had a bad day and somebody just touched her wrong."

We made several unsuccessful attempts to contact Fridge. She was ticketed for disorderly conduct. She will either have to pay it, or go before a judge.

I think everyone has sworn in public...

:evil:What the **** are you talking about?

That part of the sentence sounds a bit weird.

how the **** did the asst. fire chief ticket this bitch for saying ****

somebody's getting rich off this and it ain't the govt

**** **** ****ITY ****

I think i'll curse everywhere the rest of the week

"yes i'd love ****ing fries with that" "Do you have that in a ****ing extra large?"

"Thanks for your ****ing assistance!" etc etc

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So much for freedom of speech.

The asst. fire marshal can write tickets?

Fire marshals carry guns and are endowed with full police powers I believe.

OK. Now I hate cops and Fire Marshals.

My bad, I didn't mean to kill that person, I am just having a bad day. No fault here.

Every Chiefs home game.

God bless Texas.

:spock:

o:-)

Hmmm:hmmm:...it's hard for me to believe that all of those women had the authority to give me police powers when they said I was well endowed.

It's about ******* time.

Did I miss something? Yeah... it's backwoods Texas that is the problem. Not backwoods Arkansas, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Kansas, or Oklahoma... just Texas.

I strongly approve of the civic decency of Texans in trying to preserve public decorum.

Backwoods Arkansas, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma didn't produce the ultimate disaster who currently resides in the WH.

You strongly approve of censorship?

You need to distinguish between standards of common decency and so called "free speech". No one has a right to assail other citizens with profanity-laden tirades.

Right... they created the ultimate disaster that was in the WH before. Got it.

From the information available in the article it doesn't appear she was "assailing" anyone with a "profanity-laden tirade" until after she was confronted.

Public embarrassment and display of lack of decency should be punishment enough. No need to arrest or fine someone for using language that certain people feel is "obscene". They're just words.

I think, since this is Texas, she should get the death penalty.

Yeah, the prior ultimate disaster brought us an unjust war, a record deficit, a broken economy and international humiliation. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, how does that koolaid taste?

That's your private interpretation. You are welcome to it. There are established standards of public decency.

Liberty does not preclude civic responsibility.

So they're not words?

Why am I thinking of the movie Demolition Man?

You are just being obstinate, now. Free speech does not give you the right to cry "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater. Likewise, indignation and civic interventions in cases of the rupture of standards of public decency are signs of moral health.

You presume upon that moral health every day while dismantling its foundation with the propagation of messages that erode the moral strength of our body politick.

Its too bad things had to escalate into her getting cuffed and ticketed. It sounds like the Marshall tried to ask her politely to stop and to calm down but she got pissed and offended.

It says she was a single mom too....Nice example for your kids.

Lack of respect for others around you is one of my biggest pet peeves. This woman deserved what she got. Hard lesson learned.

You're the one bringing up free speech? When did I ever state that she has the right to use what some consider profane language, provided by the 2nd amendment? If I have, please point it out. Or are you just fabricating garbage again?

Shouting "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater can cause mass chaos and may result in injuries and destruction of property. Saying **** in public is going to have the same effect? Please! :rolleyes: Her use of what is considered by some to be profane language isn't causing any tangible harm and if people get offended that's their issue. They have the right to say something to her, but no one should get fined/arrested/cited over using such general language.

No, really it was an easy lesson to learn. But she wouldn't calm down and shut up. So she made it a hard one (that's what he said).

Read and be instructed:
Children.

I find it ironic that someone who feels so strongly that this woman should be punished and arrested idolizes another person known for his obscenity-laced tirades and gestures including "**** family fun night!"

If parents teach their children proper values and that what some people and adults do is NOT ok for them to do then there is no issue. While growing up I heard obscenities but I knew that I was not to use them.

We've been heading that way for a while now.

Kathryn Fridge was shopping without care
Then began cursing out loud (I swear!)
The arresting official had become terse
Over her f-bombs, stating coldly "The curse
Words were emitted by Fridge - a dare!"

Knowing this woman's lack of character, this ticket will only cause her to throw more obscenities in public.

Ahhh...the classic Tourette's defense.

Have you seen the price of milk lately?Makes me curse everytime I go to the store as well.

Milk? Sheesh

I'm more concerned about the prices of alcohol.

And illegal drugs...

Hey - I'll drink to that!!

Very well said, I couldn't agree more. Everyone knows it's inconsiderate to use foul language in public, the difference is that some people just don't care.

Think she had a marlboro hanging out of her lips when she told the fire marshall to (I'm quoting Dick Cheney here) "Go F Yourself?"

One of the main problems in our society today is this attitude of "I dont care, I dont give a fuck" (haha, Ironic in this case) and "its not my fault"

Take responsibility for your actions and always be polite, courteous and respectful to others. Why is that so hard for some people to understand???

While I don't condone her actions I hate to see us start going down the slippery slope of legislating morality. IMO what the fire marshall should've done is notify the store management of her behavior, and they could ask her to leave the store. If she refused, then she would be breaking the law and he could take action, and if management didn't care, he could take his business elsewhere.

I don't think it's a morality issue as much as a common decency issue. As long as the Fire Marshal isn't out looking to ticket people who curse it's probably not anything to worry about. I imagine it's an isolated incident involving one very rude woman.

I agree with this completely.

Sounds to me like the Assistant Fire Marshall found himself to be a little too self important in this situation.

Fair enough, but it's not really that much easier to define what is decent and what isn't. Sure, we can all agree that walking around naked isn't decent, but after that the line can get a little blurry.


Eh, I commend him for feeling he needed to take some kind of action, I just don't agree with the action he took.

I HATE when people curse in public and I certainly don't mind asking someone to stop when my children are present. But a ticket seems a bit much, unless we're going to police all indecent behavior like being ugly, fat, uneducated, etc.

Heh,I'm sure,when the extent of his career involves writing tickets for expired extinguishers

[QUOTE=GoBo;4914069]Fair enough, but it's not really that much easier to define what is decent and what isn't. Sure, we can all agree that walking around naked isn't decent, but after that the line can get a little blurry.
/QUOTE]


True, but in reading the article it doesn't sound as though the marshal was looking to give her a ticket. Sounds like he was just trying to get her to watch her mouth. If the guy's trying to be the morality police, now that would be another story.

And really, I can't see any reason why it would be necessary for someone to be dropping clearly audible F-bombs at the local Walmart. I get aggravated every time I go in one of those stores but I wait until I get outside to cuss.

There wouldn't be anyone at all in Wal-Mart if they did that.

well **** you

Being inconsiderate shouldn't result in a ticket/arrest.

From the writeup, its hard to get a fair gauge of just how agitated and upset this women was. Who knows? It does sound like he tried at first to be polite and asked her to stop.

If she became uncontrollable then what should he have done?

Walk away? If she became uncontrollable after he talked to her then obviously he is causing the situation to escalate (not saying he did anything to cause this to happen, just that she was not being receptive to his attempts to calm her). I agree with the earlier post with the suggestion of going to the management of the store.

I applaud the guy for stepping up and asking her to watch her language. But the idea of it resulting in a citation is over the line IMO.

Uncontrollable how? Cursing more? Screaming? Getting physical? I agree that we don't have enough information.

You either support free speech or you don't. The amendment is very straight forward and requires little of the ridiculous judicial interpretation that has followed since it was written by James Madison.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

If a person is going to have their delicate sensibilities damaged by the chance that they might hear a word deemed inappropriate by another expressing their freedom to say whatever they want, then that person should not leave their house. Ever.

I for one, agree with the action. If I had been in that store with my wife and daughter, I would have been offended. In fact, either my wife or I would have probably confronted her. If she had laid into my wife or me the way she did the fire marshall, the situation could have gotten out of hand. It wasn't like he walked up to her and wrote her a ticket. He just asked her to refrain from the foul language in public. When she went into her tiraid, she was begging for a ticket imho. She got what she deserved.

What would be the appropriate number of times for him to tell the woman to stop?

Whats funny is, i think most people would agree that the only place foul language in public is acceptable is at the typical airport flight counter. :)

Now, this is amnedable if someone politely asks her to keep it down, and she loses her shit with them.

Change that to "your local DMV", and I'm in complete agreement.

Do you have anything in writing?

Why should she have to listen? Last I checked it's not against the law to be rude.

Maybe I'll just drop my pants and take a dump in the middle of wal-mart, or start spanking it. after all it's not against the law to be rude.

No one has the right to be offended by such statements.

That would also be lewd and is against the law.

Unfortunately, that would be public indecency of the sexual flavor. So, I think you'd be going to jail.

Freedom of speech, however, is not covered in public indecency. It's a sad day when people don't defend it.

We don't have the freedom to say whatever we want. That's the whole point. He didn't make up the law on the spot, it already existed.

There's a big difference between having "delicate sensibilities" and expecting common courtesy and decency. IMO, we've turned into too much of an "anything goes" society. There is nothing wrong with expecting folks to have respect for others in a public place.

Apparently in that community there is a law against using that type of language in a public place. Am I missing something here? I believe that's why she received the ticket.

Really?

Did she yell fire and put people in danger?
Did she yell gun man and put people in danger?

No. At least not that we know of. So, no, there's no harm to other people. People don't have this right to be offended and have the offensive thing reprimanded.


And as for the bold, nothing could be more laughable. We can't show a breast on a movie screen without an instant R. We can't allow cuss words on cable. We can't deal with sound effects in Paper Planes by MIA on the radio. We can't deal with growing a certain type of plant. We can't deal with what people put in their bodies. We can't deal with lots of things.

Anything goes is as far from American society as anything.

(adj) lewd, obscene, raunchy, salacious (suggestive of or tending to moral looseness) "lewd whisperings of a dirty old man"; "an indecent gesture"; "obscene telephone calls"; "salacious limericks"


So, in what substantive way is being verbally explicit different than being visually explicit?

And aren't all laws against lewd behavior just some stick in the mud trying to enforce his morality on you? Why should there be laws against lewd behavior?

Do we know that there is a law there of that nature? Such law would be unconstitutional.

Oh, I don't know. It's hard to really, really offend someone by something said. But you know, a gang bang at the local mall might scar some people.

I amended my original post.

And I will agree there is a huge difference between letting an f-bomb fly if she stubs her toe, and dropping f-bombs like she's carpet bombing outside of Tikrit.

Hmm.. I may be mistaken but I don't remember it being afforded the right to life, liberty, RESPECT, and the pursuit of happiness. :hmmm: