Kai,<br><br>If the police aren't responding when you call to complain, then it doesn't seem like they have time to patrol for such violators on their own. This proposal won't solve that problem, unless they plan to hire more police for that purpose!<br><br>There are inconsiderate neighbors out there that may not understand your frustrations. I'm glad taking the law into your hands worked for your neighbor situation. If you do that in Moscow if this law passes, you better hope the police don't cite you on the spot!<br><br>If people are making noise on public property, that is a different question. Police should keep the peace in public.<br><br>Remember, we live in a college town... <br><br>I'd rather hear the occasional party scream then gunshots again.<br> <br>Take care,<br><br>Garrett<br><br><pre>Sorry Garrett, but a dozen drunken kids standing outside and screaming at the top of their lungs at 3 a.m. in a residential neighborhood is a bit beyond a
"free speech" issue.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre>I called the police several times on my college student neighbors and they weren't ticketed because I didn't have to call back within the timeframe required, 48 hours. They have since moved, a young family has moved in and things have been peaceful since.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre>While living in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Spokane</st1:place></st1:City>, we had a new neighbor move in next door, including their 16 year old son. Soon, we had all sorts of cars rolling down the block with their boom-boom stereos cranked up.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre>When I asked the kids' father to tell his son and his sons' friends to turn down the volume, I got the "They are kids being kids" answer.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre>The police wouldn't do anything, despite repeated complaints from many of us on the block.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre>I finally had had enough and went around to all of my neighbors to tell them what I was going to do. They all agreed
with my plan.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre>One summer Sunday morning, about 5:30 a.m., I rolled my dragbike out of the shop and moved onto my lawn about 25 feet away from my neighbors' open bedroom window.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre>Then I lit 'er up: Unmuffled motorcycle exhaust at 9,000 to 10,000 rpm makes a <st1:place w:st="on">LOT</st1:place> of noise.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre>The dad came screaming out of his house, wanting to know what the hell I was doing.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre>"Racers will be racers, just getting ready to head to the track".<o:p></o:p></pre><pre>We never had another problem, the kids turned down their steroes before they got on our block. I even got to know some of them and, on occasion, would fix their cars when they broke down.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre><span style=""> </span>----- Original Message ----- <o:p></o:p></pre><pre><span style=""> </span>From: Garrett Clevenger <o:p></o:p></pre><pre><span style=""> </span>To: <a
href="http://mailman.fsr.com/mailman/listinfo/vision2020">vision2020 at moscow.com</a> <o:p></o:p></pre><pre><span style=""> </span>Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 12:53 PM<o:p></o:p></pre><pre><span style=""> </span>Subject: [Vision2020] Oppose Proposed Noise Ordinance Modifications<o:p></o:p></pre> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><st1:City w:st="on">Moscow</st1:City>’s City Council is currently considering modifying <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City>’s Noise Ordinance to allow police officers to issue citations without warning and without civilian complaint.<span style=""> </span>The justification is because there is an increase in noise complaints and police should be able to ticket people immediately to bring harmony to the community.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">Being a
college town, we should expect a bit of noise.<span style=""> </span>But if you are bothered, you can call the police and they will intervene.<span style=""> </span>The noisy people are given a warning and if not heeded, are ticketed.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">The proposal seems too extreme for our college town.<span style=""> </span>It skirts too close to our constitutional rights of free speech and right to assembly and is a distraction to police work.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">It seems unnecessary to grant the police this power and responsibility.<span style=""> </span>Do we really want them to be spending their time trying to find noisy citizens?<span style=""> </span>Isn’t it adequate that they intervene when neighbors complain?<span style=""> </span>If there has been a rise in complaints, shouldn’t that be enough work for the
police?<span style=""> </span>Why would they want to increase their workload actively finding violators?<span style=""> </span>Isn’t there a better way to address repeat offenders than passing such a sweeping law?</div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">History is full of examples of police states gone bad.<span style=""> </span>The recent incident of 5 police officers tackling and tasering a college student at a John Kerry speech highlights the fine line between respect for authority and distrust of giving specific people such power.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">There is a reason our progressive Constitution has guaranteed citizens certain rights and limits the power of the State.<span style=""> </span>Unfortunately, the powers-that-be have consistently been chipping away at those rights, giving more power to the state.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"><br> The job
of the City Council is to protect and defend the constitution and the well being of citizens.<span style=""> </span>Admittedly, that is a fine line.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">As a cynic, I am skeptical of laws that effectively reduce the responsibilities of citizens.<span style=""> </span>Currently, it is up to neighbors to notify police when others in the neighborhood are disturbing the peace.<span style=""> </span>With the proposed modifications, people will begin to believe the responsibility lies with law enforcement.<span style=""> </span>This is not a way to build community.<span style=""> </span>It is a slow progression of giving away our power to police our community and giving it to those who, frankly, have more important things to deal with.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">The proposed amendment also takes away the warning noisy people
now receive before being issued a citation. This, too, seems extreme.<span style=""> </span>Many people don’t know they are disturbing the peace and thus deserve a warning before being fined for something they didn’t know was a problem.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">I play in a band and we practice at my house.<span style=""> </span>None of my neighbors have complained.<span style=""> </span>My next door neighbor has said we should open the window when we play.<span style=""> </span>I try to be considerate so wouldn’t do that, but at the same time, I don’t want to feel intimidated by the police when I am not disturbing the neighborhood if for some reason we play louder than the police desire.<span style=""> </span>Psychologically, this repression of freedom of expression inherent in this proposed modification damages the principle of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness guaranteed by the
Declaration of Independence.<span style=""> </span>This proposal is un-American.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">My cousin is a police officer in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Boise</st1:place></st1:City>.<span style=""> </span>He thought the proposal was extreme and potentially ripe for abuse.<span style=""> </span>He worked in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Long Beach</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State></st1:place> when a similar law was passed and said it was overturned when police began abusing it.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">I have no reason to believe our current police force will abuse the changes made, but laws aren’t about any particular person.<span style=""> </span>There may come a day when this added police power has corrupted those responsible for overseeing it.</div> <div
class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">I don’t find it hard to image a similar scenario to this:<span style=""> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">Joe Moscow has unpopular political beliefs.<span style=""> </span>The powers-that-be are looking for ways to harass him.<span style=""> </span>Joe is out mowing his lawn, violating the noise ordinance. Unlucky Joe, not disturbing his neighbors, now faces a fine or jail time simply because he was targeted.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">How are the police going to enforce such an open-ended law?<span style=""> </span>Are they going to enforce it evenly, or are they going to be selective and discriminating?<span style=""> </span>Are they going to target certain neighborhoods or people, or are we all going to be subject to police intrusion for making a little bit of noise?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">I hope our elected officials see that this proposal is about more than some noisy college students.<span style=""> </span>It is about the principle that makes up our nation and community.<span style=""> </span>Do we want laws that uphold the Constitution and individual rights, or are we, law by law, slipping into the realm of the police state?<span style=""> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal">As educated people, I hope we have learned from history and won’t let fear of the noisy neighbor affect our good sense.<span style=""> </span>Please contact our City Council members or attend the City Council meeting and ask them to vote against this proposal. <span style=""> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div> <br>