Talk about putting your money where your mouth is.

The police chief in Middleborough, Mass. is considering enforcing a longstanding, but little-used ,law to help curb cursing in his town that could hit hard in the pocketbook.

Apparently, public swearing in the sleepy town is noticeably bad and the locals are sick of adults and kids alike spewing foul language. The complaints have caused Chief Bruce Gates to consider resurrecting a law that would allow cops to hand out $20 tickets to those who use obscene language in public. It’s the modern day equivalent of the “swear jar.”

Local business owner Paulette Lilla told WBZ that the cursing is “intimidating to my customers” and hopes that the ticketing process will help solve that problem.

Gates acknowledged that cutting down cursing is not of the utmost priority, but said that issuing tickets to offenders will serve to improve the quality of life. And if the law is already in existence, why not uphold it?

Gates said, “We have a lot more important things to do, but these are things that are quality of life issues.”

The cursing issue and how to deal with it will be addressed at the town meeting in June.

[WBZ]

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