Swearing woman freed from jail

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NILES, Mich., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A Michigan woman jailed over the Christmas holiday for swearing as she left a court clerk's office has been released on bond, officials said.

LaRue Ford left the Berren County Jail on Friday after her bond was reduced to $500. She had been jailed since Dec. 18 for cursing in the court clerk's office.

Ford said she was cussing to herself, not to the clerk, because she was frustrated as she attempted to clear up an old traffic ticket, WOOD-TV, Grand Rapids, Mich., said. A district judge ordered her arrested when she came back with $50 to pay the ticket.

Ford, 49, had no criminal record and has a master's degree in social work.

"It wasn't necessary, it wasn't even necessary to put me through all this," she told WOOD.

The American Civil Liberties Union had filed an emergency appeal to get Ford freed on bond.