Myrtle Beach Cracking Down on Profanity With Fines and Possible Jail Time

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The City of Myrtle Beach is now launching a new campaign to try to clean up their ‘Dirty Myrtle’ image, and they’re starting in a rather unlikely place – dirty language.

Over the past year, the Myrtle Beach Police Department have been slowly increasing pentalties for foul language used in public, which currently falls under the city’s disorderly conduct law.

Dirty language offenders could face a fine up to $500 and/or 30 days in jail.

According to the Myrtle Beach Police Department:

“A person would violate Ordinance 14-61 (b) 1 if he/she uses a language likely to provoke a violent reaction from another person. The ordinance lists several examples of the types of words which are unlawful. The penalty for conviction could include a fine and/or jail time. We encourage everyone to avoid violating this ordinance by speaking to others with the same respect and kindness he or she deserves.”

The City of Myrtle Beach took in a total of $22,161 from 289 fines last year, averaging about $77 per ticket.

Mark Kruea, a spokesman with the City of Myrtle Beach said the fines are not about being legalistic, “It’s compliance. The goal is to have folks obey whatever rules, ordinance that any government puts in place. There is an expectation of a certain amount of propriety in a public place. People get excited from time to time. There are limits, I think, to how excited one can be and how much expressive behavior one can share with the public without infringing on somebody else’s right.”

Sunset at the beach • 8:35 p.m 🌅

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What do you think about the bad language fines in Myrtle Beach?

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