'Meep' ban generates e-mail complaints

DANVERS, Mass., Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Officials at a Massachusetts high school that banned the word "meep" have been receiving e-mailed complaints about the move, police said.

Danvers Police Sgt. Robert Bettencourt said officials from Danvers High School have sent him carbon copies of six e-mails complaining about the decision to ban "meep," a word popularized by Beaker from "The Muppet Show," the Boston Herald reported Monday.

Principal Thomas Murray said the ban was put in place because of a plan posted to Facebook for a major disruption involving the word "meep."

Bettencourt, who oversees school resource officers, said more complaints may have been forwarded to other members of the police department.

"It's kind of taken on a life of its own," Bettencourt said of the controversy. "It's really not the word that's the problem. It's the behavior associated with the word by disrupting school and harassing people."

Copyright attorney Theodora Michaels said Assistant Principal Mark Strout informed her that her e-mail was among those given to police.

"My subject line said (in full), 'meep.' The body said (in full), 'Meep,'" Michaels wrote on her blog.