Grammar vigilantes banned from parks

Flagstaff, Ariz. -- A Flagstaff, Ariz., court has ordered two men to steer clear of national parks after they corrected the grammar on a historic Grand Canyon sign.

Jeff Michael Deck, 28, of Somerville, Mass., and Benjamin Douglas Herson, 28, of Virginia Beach, Va., were ordered to stay out of U.S. national parks for one year and pay a $3,035 fine after they pleaded guilty in federal district court to conspiracy to vandalize government property, The (Flagstaff) Arizona Daily Sun reported Friday.

The two men, members of the Typo Eradication Advancement League, admitted to adding an apostrophe, erasing an apostrophe and adding a comma to a sign describing the Hopi Room in the Desert View Watchtower, a National Historic Landmark.

The U.S. National Park Service said the hand-painted sign dates back to the 1930s or 1940s.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.