In response to the Assemblies of God concerning the noise ... too loud is too loud, regardless of the subject material.
How sad it is that the Assemblies would choose to deflect their responsibility of being a good neighbor to shift the blame to us. We are not hearing music or songs of praise; we are hearing horrible thumping and beating, much as if we lived beside a nightclub, open day and night. In tears of frustration and aggravation, neighbors have tried reasoning, only to be threatened. Then we signed petitions, and finally the sheriff’s office was contacted.
This noise is like a rap beat, not music. We can hear the thump, beat, thump, thump constantly for hours like the low bass beat from a souped up sound system in a low rider. We live approximately 600 yards away in a brick house with double-paned windows and still hear it. With this being a quiet, residential neighborhood, that means for most weekends and houses that are close (within 100 yards), their lives are miserable in their own homes. An officer has witnessed a neighbor’s dishes clanging in the cabinets inside their brick home, which lets you know how loud this noise is. And whose rights are being violated?
I would like to say that this noise is a threat to my personal liberty and attempting to judge this in the public arena by throwing out the catch phrase, “threat to religious liberties,” is an insult. I am a Christian and I can practice my religion without hurting others. Our neighborhood consists of hard workers who pay our taxes and respect each other and take care not to infringe on each other’s rights.
You speak of the good the church has been doing. What kind of Christian witness are the Assemblies being in our neighborhood? Is your Christianity reflected in your treatment of us?
I want to impress that this is not a religious issue. Our community has in the past welcomed Assembly employees and knew them on a first name basis. It has been only after the metal building was built, that clearly is not sound proofed, that there have been problems or bad feelings in the neighborhood. Can an organization of this size not afford to professionally sound proof the metal building? We, as your neighbors, just want a solution that does not infringe on our rights to the peace and quiet for which we have chosen this community to live.
Kathy Lilly
Ghent
Call halt to destructive mountaintop removal
The coal mined out of Raleigh County is not for domestic consumption. The stuff is for export. You can’t buy a ton of locally-produced Raleigh County coal. So don’t tell me about buying Chinese coal to burn here in America.
My quarrel is not with coal mining. Mine is with the method of coal extraction called mountaintop removal. Underground coal mining is just fine by me.
But when you blow up mountains, cover streams, pollute the atmosphere with dust and who-knows-what from the cruddy explosive blast, pollute the water with the impoundments that coal companies seem hell-bent to construct, shower down boulders and other size rock on people and their property, and shake down and crack people’s houses, I say no. Call a halt to this destructive practice of mountaintop removal.
Live down at Edwight in Raleigh County for a while and it just might change your mind about getting coal at any cost. You might even become a so-called “environmentalist.”
