Tris, or anyone else considering outdoor speakers, unless you live
way out in the middle of nowhere, I hope you will be a good
neighbor with these things. They can be a real annoyance to those
who live nearby if used injudiciously and inconsiderately. As an
example, let me give you as brief an account as possible of a
recent experience in this regard.
We live in an older subdivision northwest of Atlanta, where each
house is on a lot of from about 1/2 to 3/4 acre. Five or so years
ago a family moved into a house behind and slightly to one side of
us. From our back deck to the deck of that house is precisely 347
feet. They immediately hooked up outdoor speakers on their deck
and played them raucously loud from morning to night on most
weekends and on evenings during the week. The music was often so
loud that it was clearly audible inside our house with the doors
and windows closed.
Four other homeowners were unfortunate enough to be even closer to
this family of scum than my wife and me. We all complained, but
to no avail. These were truly obnoxious people, and the music
continued unabated. We called the cops. They got a couple of $25
tickets, which they laughed off, and the racket continued, even
louder it seemed. The cops got tired of having to bother with
such Mickey Mouse crap, and we got embarrassed about calling them.
Finally, those of us in the five houses most affected had endured
enough and we got together to decide on a course of action. It
looked like there were three choices: arson, murder, or a
lawsuit. I was outvoted, despite what I thought was a most
eloquent argument in favor of either of the former, so we settled
on the latter, hired a lawyer and filed suit, alleging a
continuing trespass and intentional infliction of emotional
distress.
To make a story that's already too long short and cut right to the
chase, it's quiet here now. The case went all the way to a jury
trial, and we won, and won big. We had audio recordings and video
tapes, a good lawyer, and, best of all, haughty and obnoxious
defendants who showed their asses in court.
We now own that house, the five of us, subject to the remainder of
the mortgage, of course. We rent it out, and the lease has a
special clause regarding loud music. And those speakers are now
somewhere deep in Mount Trashmore, which is the local euphemism
for the Cobb County landfill.
Walt
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