‘Cursing Canoeist’ Gets Choice of Fine or Jail
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STANDISH, Mich. — The “cursing canoeist” was ordered Monday to perform four days of community service and either pay a $75 fine or spend three days in jail.
Timothy Boomer, 25, let loose with a stream of a profanities after falling out of a canoe last summer. A nearby couple with two young children said they were so horrified by his barrage of blue words that they paddled swiftly away.
A jury convicted Boomer in June of violating an 1897 Michigan law against cursing in front of children. District Judge Allen Yenior imposed the sentence.
“I learned my lesson,” Boomer said.
But he also said he felt he was a scapegoat for people who have behaved badly along the rural waterway through the years.
If his conviction is upheld after appeal, Boomer, a computer programmer, said he would pay the fine rather than go to jail.
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