Words matter, a lot, in Myrtle Beach

Labor Day weekend. The last big beach weekend of the year at resort destinations across the country.

For the most part, these destinations are the hallmark of the family vacation. Pack up the kids, the beach chairs, the bicycles … head to the house at the seashore. It is a most wholesome example of the American lifestyle.

Of course, there are a few exceptions. The television show “Jersey Shore” portrayed an opposite view of a wholesome summer at the beach. Municipalities at summer vacation destinations face a number of challenges to maintaining the proper balance between allowing people to have fun and keeping the “fun” from intruding on other visitors.

Myrtle Beach is one of the largest summer beach destinations in the country. People have been flocking to this pleasant stretch of South Carolina long before it ever became famous for the nearly 100 golf courses that are in the area. Among the multitudes who come to the area, there are always the ones who take the party a bit too far.

That is why the town instituted a law a few years ago that got national attention recently. A number of news sources reported that Myrtle Beach collected $22,161 last year from fines for using “lewd, obscene or profane” words in public.

This governmental extension of the “swear jar” made national headlines when Fox News recently ran a story on this practice. Fines can reach as high as $500.

Of course, this flies in the face of the national trend, as profanity is becoming a part of everyday life in America. The use of profane language — especially the f-word — seems to rise proportionally as the age group of observed Americans decreases. Plenty of discussion about this trend has been given in this space over the past few years.

Apparently, it reached uncomfortable proportions in Myrtle Beach — where heavy partiers and families with small chil-