In March, Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson, two members of the Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL), left Boston to begin a massive road trip across the US and back.  They started by going through the southern US, turned right at the Pacific and came back to the East Coast along the northern route.  The goal of their trip was to correct as many typos as they could find.  They did their work free of charge and, frankly, without many people noticing.

In fact, that was the case with their correction of  typos on a sign in the Desert View Watchtower in Grand Canyon National Park.  For over 60 years, the sign, made by architect Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, stood there, typos and all. That is, until Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson decided to correct it.  Or, as our government came to see it, engaged in a criminal conspiracy to vandalize government property.

Here is the sign they edited, taken from the court documents.  It seems the TEAL website has been replaced with the message: “Statement on the signage of our National Parks and public lands to come”.

The corrections made by the duo went unnoticed until  government workers happened upon the TEAL website. Now the two men have discovered that while our government can’t be bothered to fix typos, they are very serious about unfixing them.

Both Deck and Herson plead guilty to conspiracy to vandalize government property in Flagstaff, AZ and received probation. Additionally, they must make payment of $3,035 in restitution. They are also banned from modifying any public signs or even entering national parks for a year.