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Posted on 04/23/2005 10:35:45 AM PDT by SmithL
Well, seeing that the picketers were in front of a hotel . . . .
You can side with her, but you'll be on the wrong side. Horns are for emergency traffic communication. They aren't for letting your date know you are out front, and they are for "high-five-ing" protesters even if their signs urge you to break the law.
She is guilty of breaking the law and will be held accountable, unless they want to rewrite the law on the spot to protect people that agree with protesters.
What if she had been arrested for firing a gun in the air or set off firecrackers because the protesters' signs urged her. Would that be protected speech?
I'm with you and I'n flabbergasted at the people here supporting citizens getting tickets for blowing the horn!
Seems the only rights we have is the right to behave as the Goverment wants us to and everything else is punishable.
geez, there ain't a tunnel I've been thru that hasn't heard my horn blowing. I blow my horn in support of many parades, pickets marches ect.
...shortly before midnight...
Blowing one's horn,even in the middle of the day, can be very annoying.The Claremont is in a residential neighborhood.I hope the ticket sticks.Is this woman actually claiming that the signs on the side of the road made her do it?
Isn't that the 35th amendment "Freedom from being offended, especially by honking horns on public streets?"
I support the noise ordinance as I live in a residential area and have no use for ignorant behavior no matter what someone's reasons.
The picketers encouraged honking in order to be obstinate to the hotel management and people staying there.
This is a union thuggery ploy that got a citizen in trouble with the law who must now be held accountable for her actions of disturbing the peace.
She got a divorce a few years ago and hasn't had a man since. Now she's just plain horny.
I also live in a residential area. I hear lawn mowers, weed eater, cars thumping, stereos rocking, horns blowing, kids yelling, laughing, playing, airplanes flying overhead, a train that comes thru at least 4x daily and the occasional car that's lost a muffler. Then there's the dogs barking and crickets or kadydids. It's all good, our lives are full of noises that we are going to miss if we regulate everything to death.
In 40 years of driving, I've probably only used my horn five times, for accident prevention purposes.
at midnite? I would think that a noise ordinance could be sited at that hour, but if truly honking your horn is a law breaking offense then the police have the right to arrest the protesters that are encouraging people to break the law with signs, right?
Free speach doesn't let me yell "fire" in a theatre, then free speach should not allow me to encourage people to break the law .... separate issue than whether this should be a law or not in Berkely but that's a messed up town anyway.
Nobody prevented her from honking her horn. The BPD simply cited her in accordance with state law. Would you prefer that the Berkely police not uphold the law?
When inimical to 1st Amendment, no.
The Claremont Hotel is surrounded by private homes. The people who live in those homes have every right to expect a reasonable amount of peace and quiet. While your defense of yahoos expressing their "1st Amendment rights" by leaning on their horns is laudable, don't others have rights too? And don't local governments have the right to pass state laws and ordinances to keep their jurisdictions livable -- such as noise ordinances and statutes? What if I decide to "express my 1st Amendment rights" by standing outside your home and screeching my opinions every day at the top of my lungs? Is that ok with you? And what if my 40 friends decide to join me in this celebration of free speech? Is that ok too?
The citation was not for a nuisance law. If the government failed to bring a nuisance citation, it should not be treated as a nuisance citation.
I've got to dispute that. The reason California put the restriction in vehicle code was to abate public nuisance. A car horn puts out about as many decibels as a rock concert, roughly 110. When it's used casually by bozos like this woman, it's most definitely a nuisance to nearby residents.
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