The Charlottesville City Council voted 3-2 on Monday to install a spell checker on the Free Speech Wall on the downtown mall.  The new technology is expected to cost the city $500,000.

“It’s a great opportunity for the city,” says local tourism representative Trish Rutherford.  “We want our visitors to know we are an educated, well-informed city.”

The innovative software, built by a company called Graffitis-Check out of Baltimore, is scheduled to scan words written on the wall and automatically change misspelled words.  It is also programmed to turn all pictures into emoticons.

Not all local residents are not happy about this plan, however. Some wonder who will pay the $500,000 fee for the new project.  One anonymous resident wrote a letter to the city, saying he was ‘Outeraged that this is being payed form my taxplayer money.’”

Others argue that spell checking the Free Speech Wall is a violation of its very intent.  But city council members disagree, saying what we lose in free speech, we more than make up for in proper grammar and spelling.

“It’ll be an adjustment, but in the end, it will be good for the community,” says Rutherford.  “We won’t have to see messages that say ‘HAPPY BITHDAY JEN!’, and ‘GO CAVALEIRS!’ any longer.”

The spell checker is scheduled to be installed in early December.  Until then, feel free to go to the Free Speech Wall and write whatever teh heck you want.