A Pennsylvania woman is facing a jail sentence after she was arrested for shouting profanities at an overflowing toilet.

Dawn Herb was inside her own home in West Scranton when her neighbour, a police officer, heard her swearing through an open window.

He asked her to "keep it down" and, when that did not work, called police colleagues who came out and charged her with disorderly conduct.

Ms Herb is now facing up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to the equivalent of about £150, reports The Times-Tribune.

She said: "It doesn't make any sense. I was in my house. It's not like I was outside or drunk. A cop can charge you with disorderly conduct for disrespecting them?"

Although she doesn't recall exactly what she said, she admitted she was frustrated with her overflowing toilet and let a few choice words fly.

"The toilet was overflowing and leaking down into the kitchen and I was yelling for my daughter to get the mop," she said.

Mary Catherine Roper, of the American Civil Liberties Union, said Ms Herb would have a strong case in court.

"You can't prosecute somebody for swearing at a cop or a toilet," she said.

"We bring one of these cases a year and sue some police departments because they do not remember that they are not the language police."

I like her name; Dawn Herb

sick

I think the problem was that she charged the toilet money to talk dirty to it, but she lives in a residential zoned area.

Only in the US...

well, i just think that's pretty $%@*& fucking asburd

I *HATE* toilets!


I pee in the sink and shit in the backyard whenever I can.

potty mouth?

In Scotland it is ilegal to refuse entry to someone knocking your door asking to use your toilet.

that cop needs a good cuss out

Teacher said:

Really?


http://www.indymedia.org....81946.html

The day began at the No Borders camp with a sarcastic discussion about how great it would be to get ASBO'd from Crawley because it's such a horrible, corporate nightmare of a town (although most places are heading this way). In Crawley town centre for no more than 10 minutes when 'shock horror', one of us said 'wankers' in ear shot of a couple of grumpy Forward Intelligence coppers. Obviously having never heard bad language in all their lives (no-one ever swears at pigs of course) they were outraged and personally offended. They used the possible presence of children (although there were none there) as an excuse to harrass and bully. The police initially tried to get personal details from the naughty individual who dared to swear and became violent when this was refused, including kicking someone and knocking their glasses off.

This was without doubt politically motivated harrassment by the police, with the victim being arrested and locked up for 7 hours. She was released and charged with Section 5 of the Public Order Act and bailed out of the county of Sussex. Not just Crawley, the whole of Sussex!

Of course Crawley is such a pleasant, polite town. In recent local elections 12% of those who voted chose the BNP. But obviously swearing is a much bigger and more important issue than wanting to deport innocent people back to countries where they may face rape, torture and murder.

It is however no coincidence that the people who were harrassed were on there way to the day of action against racist immigration controls. The police didn't seem offended when fascists stirred up racist hatred shouting at those at the demo.

Although the whole incident was highly amusing at the time, it's getting less and less funny how political activists are being increasingly targeted by such police tactics. Unfortunately for them this kind of behaviour only serves to make us more angry and motivated to fight back against this oppressive system.
No borders, no swearing


http://www.nme.com/news/macy-gray/25835

Macy Gray almost arrested for swearing

Gray forced to apologise after Barbados gig
15.Jan.07 1:45pm
Macy Gray has narrowly escaped being arrested for swearing while perfoming onstage in Barbados.

The singer was performing at the Barbados Jazz Festival last Wednesday (January 10), when she used the word "motherfucker" several times in an in-between song tirade about the men in her life.

This resulted in Gray being forced to meet with law enforcement authorities backstage.

They threatened to arrest her and charge her for each use of the word, under a charge of "profanity infraction", unless Gray publicly apologised, which she did and was not charged, reports New York Daily News.

In a statement backstage she told journalists: "I am so sorry for what happened, and I truly apologise. My manager told me about this law, but I didn't take him seriously.

"I love Barbados and I was supposed to stay here another three days. I really don't want to do it in jail...again I truly apologise and am truly sorry."

Rapper DMX was charged in Barbados in 2003 following a similar incident

Teacher said:

Ya think so?? I don't. This type of nonsense can happen anywhere. Just look at the poor woman who's students named a teddy bear Mohammed? The world is sick everywhere.

Imago said:

Well, that's a pretty shitty story.