Woman gets ticketed for dropping f-bomb in a Walmart

[RealSNR]

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

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.

[Iowanian]

I was helping a guy pour a sidewalk a couple of days ago, and his douchebag neighbor began berating his own children using a plethora of curse words. The indivual I was helping had 2 small children outside and I wish I could remember what he said to the guy....but something about if he cussed in front of his kids again, turning his head into a jackolantern.


I cuss more than I should sometimes too....but I try not to do it in public, never at my children and will try to be aware of doing it in front of yours....

If someone was cursing like a trucker in a public place in front of my kids, I might say something.


There is no law that says you have to be courtious, but there is a man-code that trumps that that gives permission to punch a hole in one's head should they ignore 1 polite request to refrain from such activity.

[DaKCMan AP]

Originally Posted by KC Kings

So if you said "I'd like some ****ing fries with that" in front of a family, and one of the parents asked you politely to refrain from using foul language, would you oblige or continue to curse? Most people, yourself included, would have the decency to cut it out if asked respectively to do so.

I have asked people to watch their language on at least 10 occasions, mostly at sporting events, and not once has anybody had a problem or continued cursing. The most recent came at the Brigade season opener when 2 drunk guys were acting like they wanted to fight in the nosebleed seats in front of three of my friends and our young boys, and they were screaming F-you and P_ssy at each other. I went between them, pointed at the kids and asked them to tone it down or take it somewhere else. They were still both drink and mad, but it difused the situation.

Sure, most would have the decency to cut it out. However, just because someone chooses not to oblige doesn't mean they deserve to be fined/cited/arrested.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by KCJohnny

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.

Was the person in this case yelling at someone?

I can't believe we want to give the government more authority to tell us what we can and cannot say. I don't wish for people to cuss in public but I also don't think it's the government's job to stop it. Big Government KCJ evidently feels differently.

[little jacob]

Originally Posted by irishjayhawk

That's my point. There is no danger. Kids' ears don't count as danger.

It seems the objective of the dissenters in this thread (your side) want to have this right of not being offended. You don't have it. People say offensive things. Period.

Why do eyes count as danger but ears do not?

[Iowanian]

Originally Posted by irishjayhawk

Oh, I don't know. It's hard to really, really offend someone by something said.

You've got soooo much to learn about life.

You know how many lawsuits happen each year because of words?

Call some random woman a C and see what happens. Get in an altercation with a ghey and use the word bundle of sticks....use a racial slur with a coworker and get back to me on the results on the field test of your hypothesis.

[Slayer Diablo]

I could understand this if she was creating a fire hazard, but full police authority? Wow...that's a pretty wide scope for such a specific title.

[sfuria]

This assistant fire marshall would fit right in with the morality police in places like Saudi Arabia. You know, those "religious" and 'holier than thou' type people in many arab countries that would rather see young school girls die in a burning building than let them escape because the girls are not properly dressed.

IMO, handcuffing and ticketing a person for saying a cuss-word is almost as drastic as letting little girls burn to death because their short skirts might be too much skin for some people.

[CosmicPal]

We actually had a meeting about this at our office yesterday. There's a new group that has moved into our area and apparently they've been complaining about our use of foul language.

The meeting was our verbal warning. Anyone caught using foul language now is subject to immediate termination.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by CosmicPal

We actually had a meeting about this at our office yesterday. There's a new group that has moved into our area and apparently they've been complaining about our use of foul language.

The meeting was our verbal warning. Anyone caught using foul language now is subject to immediate termination.

**** that.

[Iowanian]

Giving her a ticket was wrong.

He should have put her in a headlock and stuffed a bar of lava soap in her mouth....maybe a squirt or two of dawn.

[Bob Dole]

Bob Dole was exposed to a number of the fine citizens of La Marque a few years ago when Liberty-Eylau High School played La Marque for the 4A football state championship. They were as a whole the most ill-mannered high school football fans Bob Dole has ever seen. They should just ticket the whole community.

[DaKCMan AP]

Originally Posted by Iowanian

You've got soooo much to learn about life.

You know how many lawsuits happen each year because of words?

Call some random woman a C and see what happens. Get in an altercation with a ghey and use the word bundle of sticks....use a racial slur with a coworker and get back to me on the results on the field test of your hypothesis.

You're confusing the difference between a 'slur' and a general curse word. The F-bomb is gender, race and sexual-orientation neutral. It's an equal-opportunity obscenity.

[Iowanian]

"just words" is the arguement.

[PunkinDrublic]

That's the problem with Texas too many dipshit cops think they're modern day cowboys. I don't have a problem with somebody confronting her and telling her to watch her mouth around her kids. I just don't see how it's a ticketable offense for law enforcement. The manager of the store should have stepped in and gave the warning and then asked her to leave when she persisted. If she refused to leave and continued to be a disturbance then you get the cops involved.

[KCKID58]

I hope this is not a public thread, cause thats just fucked -up !!!!!

oops !!