Redding California

PORTAGE, Indiana (AP) -- Employees in the Portage, Indiana, city clerk's office are turning their colorful language into a little green.

Since July, workers have generated about $120 by fining themselves for using profanity in the office.

The money goes into a flower vase on Portage Clerk Ellen Mesich's desk and eventually will go to buy gift cards to give to teen cancer patients at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. Mesich had a niece who died of cancer last summer and was treated at the hospital.

Mesich started the foul-mouthed fund drive.

"One day I was noticing my mouth was a little foul, so I decided I should have a cuss jar," Mesich said.

Fines range from a penny to $1.50, except on Monday mornings, when there's a general amnesty because, after all, it's Monday morning. Some people use IOUs or pay in advance of stressful times.

Paying the fines has made some workers more watchful of their words. "I've been catching myself more at home," Deputy Clerk-Treasurer Lynn Reed said.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/04/langua … index.html