The mayor of Enid, Oklahoma, has come up with a plan to curb bad language in meetings in response to a heated city commission discussion in an Oct. 20 meeting that included several curse words.

“I thought the language part of the study session, city council meeting and executive session two weeks ago tonight was the very most unprofessional meeting I have ever attended in 60 years of attending meetings, since I was in 4-H,” Mayor Bill Shewey said Tuesday. “I thought the language was awful. I have heard from a lot of people that have said the same thing. Enid is a small town, news gets around. The last thing you want is the news to get spread in a church in Enid, Oklahoma. It takes about three days and everybody knows about it.”

The profanity-laced discussion took place during an Enid City Commission study session, after a presentation on the proposed location of a BMX track drew opposition, opposition Ward 2 Commissioner Aaron Brownlee grew “tired of.” 

“OK, so I’m just going to say this, because it may come as a surprise to this table, but we don’t have all the damn answers, all right? This is an entity (Enid BMX Inc., a not-for-profit organization) that is trying to work with the city,” Brownlee said.

“It doesn’t hurt a damn thing to go into Meadowlake Park.”

“It doesn’t hurt a thing to put it in Government Springs South either,” Ward 5 Commissioner Tammy Wilson replied.

“But it’s a crappy location. I mean, let them do what they want to do,” Brownlee said.

“It’s crazy to sit here and think that somebody’s trying to do something good for the city and all we do is … sit here and tell them that their idea is s—.”

“That’s bulls— to characterize it that way,” Wilson replied.

Shewey then told the Brownlee’s and Wilson “I cannot hear either one of you because you’re both talking at the same time.” 

When Wilson later asked Brownlee why he was being so “combative,” he replied “Because I’m in a pissy mood.”

According to a rarely enforced, but still technically on-the-books 105-year-old profanity law against cursing in public (or in front of a woman), Brownlee’s mood could earn him $100 fine or even jail time.

At the very least, it will now definitely earn him a timeout from Bill Shewey. 

“We need to watch what we say and, if we don’t clean it up, I will call for a recess of 10 minutes while we go out and work on our vocabulary,” Shewey said.

If the recess does not work, Shewey said he would call another recess.

“We may not get anything done, but we’ve got to clean up our language, we’ve got to be professional. We represent the city of Enid,” he said. “Again, that was the most unprofessional meeting I have ever sat through.”

This story was reported by The Enid News in Enid, Oklahoma.