Updated

A man who wrote a vulgar message on the memo line of a check he used to pay a $5 parking ticket has apologized in writing, leading police to drop a disorderly conduct charge against him.

Clerks were offended by the message, and the disorderly conduct charge was filed because the comment was obscene, police Chief James Donnelly said.

"He was contrite enough to offer an apology, and I think that satisfies the people who were insulted by it," he said.

The lawyer for David Binner, 45, said his client would have prevailed if he went through a trial.

"The F-word isn't what it used to be," attorney Keith Williams said. It doesn't have a sexual connotation anymore and so can't be considered obscene, he said.

Williams said his client felt bad about what he did and will pay the parking fine and court costs.

"This is not my normal nature and admittedly was a temporary lapse of judgment on my part, vented in a moment of frustration," Binner wrote in his letter of apology.