Dear Editor,

It is 01:10 hours on September 7, 2008 and I cannot sleep. There is a ‘Bar-B-Que’ literally in the centre of the populated portion of Craig between Busbee Dam and Grove on Second Street playing very loud music. I called Grove Police Station at about 23:30 hours yesterday to complain about the noise nuisance and the officer promised to send a patrol vehicle.  The ‘DJ’ mentioned the police presence and the music volume went down at about 00:30 hours today. Less than five minutes after the music volume went up again and the ‘DJ’ said the party was not over. I then called Grove Police Station at about 00:45 hours and the officer promised to ask the patrol vehicle to pass back. At 01:05 hours I called again to Grove Station, this time I was informed by the officer that the people got permission to play until 02:00 hours from the court; he did stress the words “permission from the court.” By now I know no action will be taken.

I am kindly requesting what is the justification to disturb the peace at 00:00 hour in the night, let alone at 02:00 hours? Does this not infringe on the fundamental right of residents in the area to a peaceful night’s rest?   Did our court consider implementing some mechanism to protect our fundamental right to a peaceful night’s rest while it facilitates the Bar-B-Que fans’ right to have loud music? Did our court consider that there are senior citizens, babies, students, workers and other community members or even sick persons in the area who have a right to a peaceful night’s rest? If permission was not given, what action can be taken by residents in similar circumstances to prevent a recurrence?

I called Grove Station again at 02:05 hours. The officer now promised again to send the patrol vehicle. The noise nuisance went off at 02:30 hours. Thanks to the Bar-B-Que organizers and to our court and the officer at Grove Police Station we had a night’s rest that started after 02:30 hours on September 8, 2008.

Now it’s exactly 20 days after the incident reported above. On September 28, 2008, there is a function just about 100 rods north of that which was reported.

This time I called Grove Police Station with a follow-up call to Brickdam Police Station (Operations). The officer at Grove Police Station said, “there are officers at the function and they will deal with that,” while the officer at Brickdam Police Station made enquiries and then told me that the people got permission to play music until 00:00 hours. I made my final call to Brickdam Police Station (Operations) at 00:45 hours and the music went off at 0:50hours on September 29, 2008.

Finally Mr Editor, there is big talk about unlawful noise from minibuses that accommodate 15 passengers, yet for reasons unknown the court grants permission for music sets capable of disturbing a village of more than 600 residents from the afternoon until the next morning to be used.

Thanks again to our court and the police officers for at least a few hours of night rest.

Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)

Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to the Commissioner of Police (ag), Mr Henry Greene, for any comments he might wish to make.