Typo Eradication Advancement League: Correction by Defacement

Like Inspector Gadget, "Always on Duty"

Sometimes people make bad decisions. Sometimes people have too much time on their hands. Sometimes, as we read the news, we just have to shake our heads. So it is with a story about the Typo Eradication Advancement League, which was picked up by Azcentral.com.

As reported by Dennis Wagner of the Arizona Republic, the Typo Eradication Advancement League is an action group determined to "stamp out as many typos as we can find, in public signage and other venues where innocent eyes may be befouled by vile stains on the delicate fabric of our language." According to the article by Wagner, this group goal was place on their internet site.

After becoming aware of this story, I stared at my computer screen in disbelief for about 15 minutes before I was able to gather myself enough to write. I mean I guess there is a place for "correction by defacement" what with war, politics and poverty among other things. Unfortunately for the group's founders, the government doesn't agree.

Founders Jeff Michael Deck, 28, of Somerville, Massachusetts, and Benjamin Douglas Herson, 28, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to defacing a Historic Monument in the Grand Canyon by Mary Colter 60 years ago. They used a white-out product and a permanent marker. This was done on the heels of a national trip across the country looking for typos.

For their efforts, they were sentenced to one year's probation; they are not allowed in any national park for one year and they have to pay restitution which has been set at $3,035. They pleaded guilty to conspiracy to vandalize government property.

One of the scarier aspects to this story is contained in Wagner's report with respect to Deck's diary. After writing that while it was his day off from typo-hunting yet he still had to correct one, he wrote: "...but if I may be permitted to quote that most revered of android law enforcers, Inspector Gadget, "Always on Duty!"

I shall leave you with a few thoughts.