Members of the Morris City Council agreed with the assessment of Morris City Manager Blaine Hill: the chimes at Summit and Calvary Cemetery need to be play less often and at a lower volume to respect the rights of neighbors.
I haven’t heard the chimes this morning, or for the last couple of days. I’d fling my windows wide open and revel in the silence, except that it’s cold and snowy out there.
Sili says
God bless us! Everyone!
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says
Rationality reigns!
Ariaflame, BSc, BF, PhD says
Ahh. Silence is golden.
MPR says
Happy Monkey!
chigau (違う) says
The living are resting in peace.
Lynna, OM says
That’s awesome. I was beginning to think I’d have to take PZ winter camping in the mountains so that he could experience some true silence.
I think we owe some kudos to all of the Morris residents who were annoyed by the every-fifteen-minutes loud chimes. Just think about it. Nobody damaged the chime playing system. There was no sabotage. The Pullet Patrol was not used, nor were the trebuchets.
And in a way, it’s a victory for democracy.
tacitus says
If only neighbors’ barking dogs were as easily dealt with. Why so many people seem to believe that dogs are allowed to cause a racket day and night is beyond me.
Giliell, professional cynic -Ilk- says
It’s the end of the world as we know it!
Freedom and democracy are dead!
Zeno says
Oh, no! Religious freedom is dead in Morris! The city council is violating that clause in the First Amendment about letting freedom ring [chimes]. (I’m sure it must be in there somewhere.)
Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says
That’s great. Kudos to the City Council.
Stardrake says
Victory is yours!
Naked Bunny with a Whip says
I bet they wouldn’t have voted this way if those were Muslim chimes!
/snark
opposablethumbs says
Truly a cause for great celebration! Here’s wishing you and all the other residents a chime-free (or as close to chime-free as possible) 2015 and beyond.
Larry says
Hear! Hear!
Patrick says
It was obviously a public nuisance (or would have been in the common law of England and Wales) and therefore due lawful abatement.
Iyeska says
Congratulations, PZ. Took the council long enough to obey the law.
Chris Hall says
Forgive my egnorance, but is Storck a common surname in Minnesota? If not, council member Bill Storck is going to be persona non grata in Ted’s house this year.
blf says
Rename them Chimes.
twas brillig (stevem) says
Of course not! If they were Muslim chimes, they would have been shutdown the first day, (and forbidden from inciting jihad, as they do, of course), and required to remain silent 24/7.
/snarky
.
Freedom of Religion is so bassackwards these days. Today, it seems to mean: Religions, of ALL Types are Free to be Harassed Continually (except the poor xians, of course, who are harassed extremely viciously; donchanoe).
magistramarla says
Tacitus @ #7
Right! I feel so sorry for those poor dogs who are left outside day and night. I often think that they must be barking out of sheer boredom.
The neighbor dogs seem to irritate my dog. He will be snoozing on his orthopedic bed in our living room when the racket from the neighbor dogs wakes him up, and he looks out the window and then back at me with a look of utter disgust.
Since he’s a trained service dog, he only barks if I give him the hand signal to do so or a short bark at the door to let me know that he is done doing his business and is ready to come inside. People who don’t make their dogs part of the family, even in the house, are not good pet owners. Most certainly not those who allow their dogs to disturb the neighborhood at night, even other dogs.
Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says
Three weeks I spent in a hotel near enough to a mosque to hear the call to prayer quite clearly during the early morning quiet outside were… interesting. Once I got used to the call, it bothered me less than the too loud AC, though.
(first call at about 5am? too damn early)
MJP says
If I recall correctly, PZ said that someone cut the wires at some point.
magistramarla says
Beatrice,
Try sleeping next to a hissing CPAP machine and the snorer attached to it!
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says
Somebody did, but it wasn’t the Pullet Patrol. They all swore on a keg of grog-soaked corn they had nothing to do with it.
RobertL says
Beatrice @21 I was on a trip around East Africa in 2007. It was a camping safari.
One night we stopped at this little village in the middle of nowhere and set up camp in the dark.
We didn’t realise that we were next to the mosque until about 5.00am when they played the call to prayer at nosebleed volume.
It certainly got our attention!
pwillow1 says
WHO!? were these chimes being played FOR!? Who needed or wamted to hear this bullshit? Not the dead, surely.
unclefrogy says
It was bound to happen sooner or later loud music of any kind soon becomes intolerable noise if played all hours of the day and night nice to see the the local government was finally responsive to the citizens and put some control on what was in fact a kind of promotional commercial “speech”
There used to be a lot of dogs in my neighborhood and they would bark at times, one particular time was starting about 8:30 – 9:30 Pm or so it varied some. The barking seemed to travel or move. It turned out that the barking was caused by the racoon that would start his evening rounds about then and make his way to my house past all the dogs in between to get some water which was available in my yard. It got so that I could time him pretty well.
uncle frogy
grumpyoldfart says
That poor old preacher; his one pleasure in life was to annoy the shit out of everyone – and now it has been taken from him. Poor old man. Christians really are persecuted in America.
dick says
PWillow #26, I’d guess it was for Jehovah, (the Bible Bogey), to show it how devout Ted Storck really, really is.
gog says
@magistramarla #20
Absolutely. Dogs need to be part of the family. They crave attention and approval and affection. You can’t breed that out, but you can easily abuse a dog into failing to understand its social expectations. What easier way than to isolate them from the social group?
Also (something I think that sort of dog owner doesn’t understand), dogs do a much better job of protecting your home from unwanted visitors when they’re inside the house and only bark when there’s a good reason to bark. That way the neighbors think “I should investigate” instead of “that fucking dog is driving me batty.”
gog says
(Apologies for the OT above).
I can’t say what I would have done if I had lived next to those chimes. Thankfully, there’s an XKCD for that.
ibyea says
Huzzah! ^_^
David Wilford says
To mark the happy occasion:
Chimes / J. Geils Band