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Shhhhh
Residents, businesspeople, activists and religious leaders expect their rights to free speech to be unimpeded.
But the town must enforce limits on free screech.
For the past several years, a minister has conducted evening revival services in town. While the revival tent is located on church property, the tract is in a residential neighborhood.
The music, singing and sermonizing continue into the late evening, magnified by loudspeakers set up in the tent. Some neighborhood residents maintain that the revival’s volume disrupts their sleep.
Fair is fair. People can find salvation at sunset, not late at night when other citizens seek sleep.
Several citizens attended a recent Township Council meeting to voice their concerns about the noise. The residents said they had repeatedly called the Montclair Police Department, requesting officers to shut down or at least reduce the disturbing volume.
Montclair is a concise town. Within its 6.2 square miles reside about 39,000 residents. About 50 houses of worship are located in Montclair.
It is essential that the town establish a clearly delineated rule when volume controls must be lowered. Sure, there will be exceptions to the rule, such as an official fireworks display or one night of revivalism.
But an entity cannot repeatedly disturb citizens who pay their taxes and expect a modicum of quietude.
Whether religious or non-religious in nature, a person’s right to create exuberant sounds or clamorous noise must cease when the expressions consistently disrupt other people’s reasonable slumber.
Wreckcipes
"We are all Georgians." — Sen. John McCain.
The breakup of the Soviet Union has created a vast menu of democracies, bitter brews of authoritarian and totalitarian governments and a stew of separatist regions spanning Eastern Europe and Asia.
Fervent nationalism propels many battles and ethnic oppression. The trappings of 21st-century technology and sophisticated fashion styles do not quell centuries of distrust or outright disdain.
As the amalgam of "socialist republics" disintegrated, the people of Georgia quickly seceded from the Soviet Union. Just as quickly, the ethnic groups of Ossetians and Abkhazians sought to separate from Georgia. For the past 15 years, South Ossetia and Abkhazia have been de facto independent regions allied with Russia, whose border abuts the regions and Georgia itself.
The Georgian government is democratically elected. Georgia has sought to join NATO and has allied itself with the United States. Perhaps the support of President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain, and the U.S.’s significant military support to Georgia, impelled Georgia to launch a military invasion on Aug. 8 into South Ossetia, despite the presence of hundreds of Russian "peacekeeping" troops in the region.
The Georgian invasion of the semi-autonomous South Ossetia prompted Russia to counterstrike with a powerful offensive, decisively defeating the Georgian Army, Navy and Air Force.
Amid his nation’s rout, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili vows to rebuild his military and conquer the two separatist regions. This inflammatory rhetoric will prompt additional decisive Russian actions.
Several years ago, McCain himself supported the secession of Kosovo, the separatist region of Serbia that won its freedom thanks to U.S. military support.
As a nation, we must address McCain’s provocative rhetoric and ask ourselves: Are we all Georgians?
Could we also be South Ossetians? Could we also be Abkhazians?
We must be wary of dining when we don’t comprehend the ingredients.
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