Teen banned from using 5-letter word

By Hum
in Real World News

 Share

Recommended Posts

Grand Master

Hum

Posted
Posted

A northern Kentucky teen has been banned from saying the word "Bingo" for six months by a district judge.

Why? Last month, Austin Whaley walked into a local bingo hall filled with patrons, many of them elderly women. Whaley shouted the word "Bingo!" as a joke, causing no small amount of kerfuffling among the patrons, according to KETV.

It might have gone down as just a harmless (if annoying) prank. But unfortunately for Whaley, Park Hills Police Sgt. Richard Webster was working off-duty security detail at the time (must be some high rollers at this bingo hall).

Webster cited Whaley for disorderly conduct. About a month later, Whaley appeared before District Judge Douglas Grothaus, who ordered Whaley to not say the word "bingo" for six months. If Whaley fails to comply, he could face 90 days in the big house and a $250 fine. If Whaley follows through, the judge said the charge would be dropped.

Whaley and his family are taking the charge in good humor. He has even altered his dog-walking route so he won't stroll past the bingo hall. Must. Resist. Temptation.

source & video

Explorer

NoPanShabuShabu

Posted
Posted

Hah, that is awesome. Though, his prank is completely not worth the punishment he is getting. Our "justice" system is so broken and pathetic sometimes.

Not worth the punishment he's getting? He's getting no punishment at all as long as he doesn't say "bingo" around anyone who knows or cares that he isn't supposed to.
Grand Master

spacer

Posted
Posted

Not worth the punishment he's getting? He's getting no punishment at all as long as he doesn't say "bingo" around anyone who knows or cares that he isn't supposed to.

So a judge limiting his freedom of speech on threat of jail time isn't a punishment?

Grand Master

Detection

Posted
Posted

At which point, Sgt. Richard Webster would cite you again for disorderly conduct, and this time the judge probably wouldn't be so lenient.

Lenient? For shouting Bingo? It should never have reached the courts to begin with, let alone actually receive a punishment for it, the bingo hall should have just banned him

  • theyarecomingforyou and +Mirumir
  • Like 2
Explorer

NoPanShabuShabu

Posted
Posted

Lenient? For shouting Bingo? It should never have reached the courts to begin with, let alone actually receive a punishment for it, the bingo hall should have just banned him

Dude! It was a deliberate attempt to disrupt the Bingo game in progress and irritate the players, for no reason whatsoever. Sure it's a really petty crime, but there was no punishment. Cop gave him a ticket.
Grand Master

Detection

Posted
Posted

Dude! It was a deliberate attempt to disrupt the Bingo game in progress and irritate the players, for no reason whatsoever. Sure it's a really petty crime, but there was no punishment. Cop gave him a ticket.

Meh, it was a daft childish prank, something in the olden days you might get a clip around the ear for.... everything gets blown way out of proportion these days, in court for shouting Bingo... its completely unnecessary and a waste of time and effort for things that do need dealing with in a court room

Grand Master

+Warwagon MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

Don't **** with the old people playing, bingo, they take that **** SERIOUSLY!

The bingo ball caller at the local eagles club told me a story

He said this old lady in the front row just about had a bingo but lost to another person. At the very start of the next card he called the square she would have needed to win the previous round. He said she looked at him and said.. "You little ****ER!"

Grand Master

theyarecomingforyou

Posted
Posted

There was no harm to society here - he should have simply been given a talking to by the officer and the matter been left at that. There was no need to drag him in front of a judge, as that's a complete waste of the judicial system and defies common sense. Only if he was a repeat trouble maker should the matter have been taken any further. The idea of banning him from using a word is ridiculous, particularly when it concerns something so trivial and considering the US prides itself on free speech.

Then again, we're talking about a society that thinks it's appropriate to handcuff and interrogate a seven year old boy for 10 hours over the alleged theft of $5 (a false accusation with no evidence). It's very concerning how intolerant US society has become.

  • Hum, Stoffel and Detection
  • Like 3
Grand Master

Denis W. Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Bet this wouldn't be anywhere near the news making radar if a cop didn't happen to be where he was. If you can remember this from years back... imagine if that same cop was a HP fan and managed to be in line at the time:

I can understand charges being laid if this teen did something stupid like yell BOMB inside a movie theatre, but yelling BINGO isn't a threat to life. Unless of course, one of those old grannies happens to suffer a heart attack or something.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Posts

    • Microsoft Authenticator - Constant Login Approval Requests

      By goretsky · Posted

      Hello, Were you using a product or service from one of the companies affected by the Klue data breach?  See https://klue.com/blog/an-update-on-recent-klue-security-incident for the company's public statement.  That blog post does not list affected customer. From looking around at reports, I created this list: Gong HackerOne Huntress Insurity Jamf LastPass OneTrust Recorded Future ReliaQuest Salesforce Snyk Sprout Social Tanium It is likely there are other companies affected as well. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky  
    • SpaceX reportedly plans a Starlink mobile service for U.S. consumers

      By Karthik Mudaliar · Posted

      SpaceX reportedly plans a Starlink mobile service for U.S. consumers by Karthik Mudaliar SpaceX reportedly wants to sell mobile phone plans directly to consumers in the United States as part of a wider expansion of Starlink. According to a report from the Financial Times, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell discussed the plan with investors during the company’s recent IPO roadshow. The company is also said to be considering building a terrestrial mobile network to complement Starlink’s satellite coverage. The plan is quite different from how Starlink currently operates in the U.S. mobile market. SpaceX already provides satellite connectivity for T-Mobile’s T-Satellite service, but T-Mobile remains responsible for the subscription, billing, and customer support. A Starlink-branded mobile service would give SpaceX control of the customer relationship instead. It could also turn the company from a partner of traditional mobile operators into a direct competitor. T-Mobile also began testing its Starlink-powered satellite service in early 2025. The beta was initially limited to text messaging and was also available to some AT&T and Verizon customers. The service has since expanded to support limited data access through selected apps, including WhatsApp, Google Maps, AccuWeather, and AllTrails. It is designed to provide a connection in areas where normal cell towers are unavailable, rather than replace a conventional mobile network. However, if SpaceX actually has a plan to serve nationwide, it needs to do more than just satellite networks and actually support on-ground operations. It can also partner up with existing carriers and become a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). With that said, SpaceX has already spent heavily to support its mobile ambitions. Just last year, the company agreed to acquire wireless spectrum licences from EchoStar in deals worth a combined $19.6 billion. EchoStar's spectrum includes AWS-4, H-Block, and AWS-3 frequencies that could be used for both satellite and terrestrial communications. According to a SpaceX securities filing, the Federal Communications Commission approved the transaction in May 2026, although it is not expected to close until late 2027. There's no official statement by SpaceX for now. Pricing, availability, and other details remain unknown. Source: Financial Times
    • Ford execs say they made a mistake when they replaced human engineers with AI

      By PsYcHoKiLLa · Posted

      NO SHI... ?
    • Steam Summer Sale 2026 kicks off offering weeks of PC game discounts

      By cleverclogs · Posted

      We had no idea as kids how much time and energy it took to be an adult 😅
    • The Trump administration doesn't want you to use OpenAI's GPT-5.6 without its approval

      By David Uzondu · Posted

      The Trump administration doesn't want you to use OpenAI's GPT-5.6 without its approval by David Uzondu Image via @realDonalTrump (X) As OpenAI prepares the release of its next model, GPT 5.6, the White House has instructed the company to limit the distribution of the software to a small group of government-approved partners instead of the general public, as it has done with previous releases. According to The Information, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman sent an internal memo to staff on Thursday explaining that the federal government will approve access "customer by customer" during an initial preview phase. Altman noted in the communication that this restrictive rollout is "not [their] long-term model" for software deployment, and the company plans to work toward a "more sustainable" distribution method later. CNN said that both OpenAI and the Trump administration view the capabilities of GPT 5.6 on the same level as Anthropic's Mythos and that government officials intend to "collaborate with frontier AI labs to develop shared approaches for addressing the challenges of scaling this technology." The latest restriction comes just weeks after the US Commerce Department decided to restrict Fable, a version of Mythos with extra safety "guardrails" to prevent users from exploiting software vulnerabilities. Not long after the release, though, researchers at Amazon found a way to bypass these restrictions, prompting an aggressive response from federal authorities. The government ordered Anthropic to cut off access for non-US citizens located outside the US, non-US citizens living inside the US, and incredibly, even Anthropic's own foreign-born employees. Anthropic now appears to be building a workaround to resolve this compliance block with an update to its Privacy Policy that introduces a category called "Verification Data" to handle KYC and Digital IDs. This setup could mandate digital identity checks to filter users by nationality, requiring a government-issued ID and facial biometric data. Who knows? Maybe in the future, you would have to scan your US Passport or State ID to prove your citizenship before you are allowed to chat with Fable 5 (or any other model).

  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      xvvxcvv earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      xvvxcvv earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Enthusiast
      Xonos went up a rank
      Enthusiast
    • Conversation Starter
      Admir earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • First Post
      The_Focal_Point earned a badge
      First Post

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      400
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      170
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      127
    4. 4
      neufuse
      69
    5. 5
      Xenon
      66
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!