ODDLY ENOUGH | NC judge rules to strike down a ban on public profanity

ODDLY ENOUGH

NC judge rules to strike down a ban on public profanity

RALEIGH, N.C.

Cursing in public may not be seemly, but it is protected by the Constitution, a North Carolina judge ruled in striking down a 98-year-old state ban on public profanity.

Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour dismissed a misdemeanor charge last week against Chapel Hill resident Samantha Elabanjo, who was convicted in July of using the word “damn” during a confrontation with police officers.

Baddour ruled the law against “indecent or profane language” within earshot of two or more people on any public road in North Carolina is too broad.

The case started Feb. 15 when Elabanjo was having a conversation on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, and stepped into the road as a police cruiser drove by, according to court documents. The two officers asked her to get back on the sidewalk. She did, but told the officers “You need to clean up your damn, dirty car” while still in the road.

After she was back on the sidewalk, Elabanjo called the officers a vulgar name. They arrested her, charging her with disorderly conduct and use of profanity on a public road.

Wheelchair user cruises along highway in Connecticut

FAIRFIELD, Conn.

The older man cruising along Interstate 95 in Connecticut could have been just another traveler — except that he was in an electric wheelchair, in the breakdown lane, while cars and trucks barreled along a few yards away.

The mystery of the unidentified man in the cozy blue coat and sunglasses is leaving some chuckling, including witnesses who videotaped his unorthodox trip Thursday along the breakdown lane and off an exit in Fairfield.

Connecticut State Police say their troopers didn’t encounter the intrepid traveler, but surely would have warned him about what vehicles are — and aren’t — allowed on the highway.

Police: Man says he traded meth to pay for his car

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va.

West Virginia state police say they pulled over a man who told them he used methamphetamine to pay for the car he was driving.

State Police in South Charleston say Jerry Wayne Means said he gave a woman two grams of meth for the car.

WSAZ-TV reports that Means was pulled over on U.S. 119 on Saturday night in the car, which police said had been reported stolen. He was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, delivery of a controlled substance and other counts.

Means was being held Sunday at the South Central Regional Jail. Jail records didn’t indicate whether he had an attorney.

Associated Press