Charging Pranks as Crimes
Kentucky's criminal justice system is far too overburdened to be serving as behavior enforcers for private entities. You don't like the way somebody acts at your event, you throw them out and bar them from returning. You don't demand the taxpayers do that job for you.
From the Associated Press:
Calling out "bingo!" when you don't have one can get you in trouble in northern Kentucky.I sincerely hope Judge Grothaus was kidding, because no, he does not have the authority to force anyone to not speak a particular word.
Ask Austin Whaley.
The 18-year-old man was recently sentenced to refrain from saying bingo for six months. That's because he and several others did that at a Covington bingo hall.
An off-duty police officer working security cited Whaley for second-degree disorderly conduct. The affidavit stated that the prank disrupted the game for several minutes and alarmed patrons. Kenton District Judge Douglas Grothaus didn't send Whaley to jail but told him to not even use the word for a while.
Disorderly conduct in a free society should be honored, not punished.
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