Free Republic

A 79-year-old Illinois man is accused of fatally shooting his neighbor, all because the man was using a leaf blower, according to authorities. Ettore Lacchei was arrested on murder charges Tuesday over the killing of his next-door neighbor William Martys, 59, in the village of Antioch on April 12. Martys was using a leaf blower in his own yard when he was approached by Lacchei and the pair began arguing. Lacchei allegedly shot Martys in the head around 7:35 p.m., the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said. When deputies arrived at the home on North Black Oak Avenue, they found Martys...

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has made it clear on social media that the department is planning to enforce a revised law in Florida that was ruled unconstitutional in its previous form in 2012. Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Facebook warning. © Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Facebook warning. "What does this mean? It means that you will have to listen to your car radio at a volume that is NOT plainly audible at a distance of 25 feet or more," the Sheriff's Office said on social media last week, adding that Statute 316.3045 will "once again become enforceable." But some Duval...

Minneapolis, Minnesota – Pastor Jane Buckley-Farlee was recently walking through her Minneapolis church’s Cedar-Riverside neighbourhood when an unexpected song broke out. “I heard this music that sounded sort of heavenly,” she told Al Jazeera. At first, she did not know what it was – but after a few moments, she realised it was the adhan, or the Muslim call to prayer. “It was echoing among all of the buildings, but it was still a little hard to hear with all of the traffic,” she recalled. “But it just made me smile. I stopped and listened and just smiled. I must...

This spring Minneapolis became the first large city in the United States to allow the Islamic call to prayer to be broadcast publicly on loudspeakers.MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The chant in Arabic blasted from rooftop loudspeakers, drowning out both the growl of traffic from nearby interstates and the chatter and clinking glasses on the patio of the dive bar that shares a wall with Minneapolis’ oldest Somali mosque. Dozens of men in fashionably ripped jeans or impeccably ironed kameez tunics rushed toward the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque. Teens clutched smartphones, and some of the older devout shuffled in with the aid of...

Minneapolis mosques will now be allowed to blast the call to prayer outdoors on loud speakers all year round. City Council Member Jamal Osman, a very involved member of the Muslim community, was behind the push for mosques to be allowed to play the adhan several times a day, every day.

During a recent trip to Maine, my wife and I noticed the large number of wind turbines cluttering the peaks of the ridges around the otherwise scenic New England countryside, particularly in Vermont. There really are a lot of them, and that’s the result of an ongoing push to get the region onto renewable energy as much as possible. Vermont in particular has been hammering wind power as the path to cut carbon emissions and make the state truly green in nature. And they’ve achieved an admirable level of success, despite the fact that people living near the wind farms...

Locals in west Dublin have filed an appeal against plans for a large-scale mosque in the area, citing concerns the call to prayer would cause “noise pollution.” The Fingal County Council granted planning permission for a mosque to the Shuhada Foundation of Ireland last month. The mosque, including a 95-foot-tall minaret, a community center, and a primary school is to be built on the site of Warrenstown House, in Blanchardstown. Dr. Taufiq al-Sattar, a neurosurgeon in Dublin, pledged to build the mosque in memory of his late wife and three children who died in an arson attack in Leicester, England,...

My brother lives on a residential block zoned commercial. On the next block is a gas station that has just installed tvs next to the pumps and started playing music 6 am to 10 pm "to attract customers." It's cranked up LOUD about 150 ft from his house. He works at home and spends a lot of time working on his house and yard and the noise is making him miserable. He's spoken to the gas station owners, no luck, and to the town - no noise ordinances in commercial zones. Any suggestions? I've never seen gas pump TVs. Is...

In his State of the Union address last week, President Barack Obama touted renewable energy and declared that he would “not walk away from workers” such as Bryan Ritterby, who is employed by a wind-turbine manufacturer in Michigan.But in their rush to embrace the wind-energy business, Obama and numerous other politicians are walking away from rural residents such as David Enz and his wife, Rose. A year ago, the couple abandoned their home near Denmark, Wis., because of the unbearable low-frequency noise produced by a half-dozen 495-foot-high wind turbines that were built near the home they’ve owned since 1978. The...

If you were into the final minutes of watching a soccer match during South Africa's recent World Cup extravaganza and suddenly you had the overpowering urge to go out and kill somebody, blame the vuvuzela. ...When blown like a trumpet, the vuvuzela produces a loud monotone which musicologists say is pretty close to a B-flat, three octaves below middle C. ...Played by a bunch of rowdy soccer fans, however, a blast from the vuvuzela could strip the chrome off a trailer hitch. ...During the World Cup, TV audiences often heard only the sound of vuvuzelas. Networks examined the possibility of...

"Never, ever leave home without it." No, not your American Express card, your sidearm.This morning, I woke up about 4:15 and was hungry, so I decided to drive to the local 24-hour beanery. The only other customers were a table of 10, intoxicated 20-somethings making alot of noise.There were 7 muscular young men and three loud-mouthed young women. After listening to their raucous laughter for 10 minutes, I politely asked the waitress to ask them to hold down the noise. All I wanted to do was eat my breakfast in relative peace.Her request for quiet lasted about 45 seconds, then...

Backyard shooter muzzled By Liz Chretien EPPING - An Epping man is at odds with town officials, claiming they are squashing his constitutional rights by not allowing him to target-shoot in his backyard. Timothy Hannagan of 20 Norris Court said he bought the property specifically because, as he understood it, state law permitted him to shoot there. According to New Hampshire RSA 644:13, "A person is guilty of a violation if, within the compact part of a town or city, such person fires or discharges any cannon, gun, pistol, or other firearm, except by written permission of the chief of...

Judge Dismisses 'Fowl' Noise Petition Tue Mar 15, 5:46 PM ET Strange News - AP FRANKLIN, Tenn. - Four roosters have something new to crow about. A Williamson County judge dismissed a civil petition by Richard Milardo that sought to force his neighbors to get rid of their roosters because they disturbed his peace by crowing throughout the day. "I know how annoying things can be to people, but I really don't believe there is anything I can do," General Sessions Court Judge Al Nations said at a hearing on Monday. The neighbors, Jon Jackson and Kimberly Roberts, said they...

When he began his quest for a quieter, cleaner city months ago, little did Stephen Rueff know he'd run into throngs of people who believe they have a right to bear leaf blowers. But oh, they're out there, legions who think that the roar of the leaf blower is the sound of liberty. "It's pretty interesting," Rueff said. "There are people who don't accept the notion of a greater good. They don't see that what happens on their own property impacts their neighbor." He's still on his quest, saying the more people learn about leaf blowers, the less they defend...

NEW YORK - Rappers 50 Cent and former protege The Game are calling a truce. The Game has a foundation, Black Wall Street, which empowers the community through business development. 50 Cent said he's launching a new foundation, G-Unity, to help people overcome obstacles. The two will donate to the Harlem Boys Choir and Compton Unified School District Music Program. "I realized that if I'm going to be effective at that, I have to overcome some of my own. Game and I need to set an example in the community," 50 Cent said in a statement. It comes a week...

RALEIGH, N.C. - In rural California, neighbors want the mules to stop braying. In New York City, the ice cream man has to turn off the jingle on his truck, at least while he's handing out fudgesicles. Here in Raleigh, N.C., it's essentially one shout and you're out as the city council increases noise fines aimed in part at rowdy renters. • Crime along border pushes Mexicans into the US • Calm before the Chechen storm? • Unveiling 'Deep Throat': Is he better left unknown? • Theaters get 'em while they're young • About the Christian Science Monitor Reuters Photo...

A year ago, Stephen Rueff was sitting in his south Minneapolis back yard, reading a book and savoring one of those last, lovely autumn days. "Ah yes," Rueff was saying to himself. "This is why we live in Minnesota." But suddenly, serenity was blown away. One neighbor had fired up a leaf blower. Then, another. Noise, ear-piercing, peace-robbing noise, was all around him. Sad, disgusted and perplexed, Rueff retreated inside his home. "I asked myself, 'Why is it that people are in love with loud machines?' " he said.

The shooting range at Michigan Department of Natural Resources' Island Lake State Recreation Area must comply with Green Oak Township's noise ordinance, a judge has ruled. Livingston County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Burress Thursday signed a preliminary injunction ordering the DNR to comply with the ordinance, which limits noise to 65 decibels. "We're very, very happy the judge took that stance with it, we really think he's for the people," said Marilyn Carr, a nearby resident who has been one of the most vocal in complaining about the noise levels. If the state does not comply, a court hearing will...

The City Council of Hamtramck, Michigan approved an amendment to the city's noise ordinance to allow the Muslim call to prayer over loudspeakers 5 times daily, from 6 a.m. - 10 p.m. The new ordinance takes effect May 26. Nonie Darwish writes the following:

<p>HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (AP) — Long known for pierogi and polka, this bustling city is now debating whether to add an amplified Arabic chant to the local sights and sounds.</p> <p>In a sign of the deep changes in this once-predominantly Polish town, the City Council is expected today to pass a noise-ordinance amendment that would permit mosques to issue the traditional Islamic call to prayer over loudspeakers.</p>