Tufte in The Forum
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My response to the forum:
I just completed reading your editorial regarding loud cars, and must say that I read it with amusement. Yes, you are right, if a kid is out in the street banging his drums until the wee hours of the morning, you have every legal right to call him in for disturbing the peace. If someone is roaring through your neighborhood you have the right to call them in as well. But if someone is driving with an exhaust system that has been deemed LEGAL in a civil manner in your neighborhood, they should not get ticketed for having a "modified" exhaust. My neighbors lawnmower is louder than my car, if he cuts his grass at 7 AM on a Saturday morning, can I have him ticketed for disturbing my sleep?
The problem a lot of us have isn't with the ordinance itself, but the way the law enforcement stated they will be enforcing it. Their statement in your newspaper stated they were going after the "speed racer" cars (small customized imports, and motorcycles in which the owners have modified their muffler pipes for a louder exhaust). Most, if not all, of the import cars in this town with aftermarket exhausts are quieter than their V8 counterparts. Somehow it seems that this is a targeting of a generation of people, because lets face it, most of the imports are owned by the 16 to 30 year old crowd and a majority of the muscle cars are owned by the older generations (there are exceptions on both sides) and the police have already publicly stated that they are targeting the imports. Why? Perhaps because they know we're younger and have less money and probably won't put up much of a fight in court.
Perhaps part of the problem is that we sometimes like to drive in groups of 5 to 30 cars. That doesn't mean that all of our cars are loud, it means that as a group the perceived noise is louder. Think about it this way, if you have 1 speaker playing at 90 decibels and then add another speaker the sound output goes up 6 decibels (dB). Every time you double the amount of speakers, in this analogy, the sound will go up another 6 dB. By the time you reach 32 speakers the sound will be at 120 dB. So really, it may not be that the sound of one car is loud, but the combined sound of multiple cars seems loud.
As an import owner, I am very concerned that my car may be targeted while others are blindly left to spread their noise pollution whilst the police department does nothing. I am the first to admit, I have a loud exhaust. I have for the past 4 years. I never race my car other than at the track in Sabin, and certainly never in town or on public roads. I've never received a noise violation as I don't "get on it" in town therefore my exhaust is not much louder than anyone elses and certainly not louder than the V8 powered muscle cars and pickup trucks that roam the streets of Fargo just as readily. So why should I now, all of the sudden, have to worry about getting a noise ticket for something that was just fine for the past 4 years? The ordinance didn't change, so why should the rules of enforcing it?
What I'd like to see happen, is the fargo police department set up measurement guidelines and make those guidelines known to the public instead of leaving us guessing as to what will be tolerated and what will not be. Please tell us what constitutes an illegal exhaust. And then enforce the law for every vehicle that is not in compliance with that ordinance, not just one particular group of car owners.
Whatever they do, I don't think its fair that they make up the rules on the loud exhaust game as they go.
On a side note, there seems to be no middle ground for the owners of modified import cars. If we sit peacefully in a parking lot, we get kicked out. If we go out cruising, we get told to quit making noise and go park somewhere. If we park somewhere we get kicked out.
So I ask law enforcement, and you the Forum Editorial Staff this: What do you want us to do? I do not believe it is illegal to modify your car and then drive it.
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you goint o send that in?
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already sent
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any bets I get interviewed?
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Love that letter Chuck.
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Chuck, like the letter, the only thing that bothered me that you didn't mention was when he called us something along the lines of spoiled little rich brats (sorry, I don't have the paper in front of me, I can't pull an exact quote).
I was actually going to write a letter in based on that little clip alone.
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Jack Zaleski wrote:
The whining from some young drivers suggests spoiled bratsThen the idiot refers to the example of the farm boy using a loud truck. Seriously, we all can't score a job of Editorial Page Editor, like Zelaski did, some how. How he got the job, I don't know. I can't see how the Fool-um makes it in this town. Outside of the Sports section who I have respect for, Terry Vadrovech(name?) and Mike Mcfeely(local dick, like his articles tho), the rest of this paper is written/edited by a bunch of clowns, with the ring master being Zelaski.
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STiSchucky wrote:
Then the idiot refers to the example of the farm boy using a loud truck. Seriously, we all can't score a job of Editorial Page Editor, like Zelaski did, some how. How he got the job, I don't know. I can't see how the Fool-um makes it in this town. Outside of the Sports section who I have respect for, Terry Vadrovech(name?) and Mike Mcfeely(local dick, like his articles tho), the rest of this paper is written/edited by a bunch of clowns, with the ring master being Zelaski.Kirks Boyfriend
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I wonder if they realize that a large portion of the import community is a hard working group of "older" people who have careers and families and that it is a hobby which is enjoyable to all.
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MisterCMK wrote:
Thats bullshit, the "large portion" of the import community are people who throw a fart can on their shit box and rip through town. Thats the people who are being asses, and the ones who deserve the ticket.I would say half of the import community are responsible and do not drive like idiots. It is just the ones that are stupid that stick out more.
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Yep, you're right. There are plenty of people who are responsible behind the wheel, however I believe that the people who are bitching about the new enforcement are the ones who are not responsible. I have no problem with the new enforcement, and I even welcome it, because its annoying as hell to hear the buzz boxes at all hours ripping around. I know that I most likely won't get pulled over for noise, because I know how much it sucks to hear loud exhaust when you're trying to study or sleep, so I try to keep my foot out of it. There is a time and place to step on it, such as getting on the freeway, or out of town, or at the track. Down busy city streets is not the place to do that, and the people who do are going to get fucked, and I have no sympathy for them. The people know what they are doing is wrong, and they are just mad because the police are calling them on the carpet.
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DaveH wrote:
Well written Chuck, how long did it take your wife to come up with that?
Unless she's read this thread, i don't think she even knows I wrote it
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