Has anyone else around Telemark been bothered by the constant electronic gongs from (I assume) the Lutheran church. Talk about noise pollution. From 9am till about 9pm, every 15 mins, all day, every day. I find it very annoying and feel it takes away from the natural sounds of the area. I also find it a constant and intrusive reminder of religion, which I shouldnt be forced to accept. Does anyone know if that was done with some kind of township approval or permit? I think its a bad precident. What happens if another organization wants to do the same within earshot, but their clock is a couple minutes slower, or what if we ever are lucky enough to have a mosque move into town. Are we going to listen to amplified prayers 4 times a day. Silence is golden.
I suspect that electronic gongs and other noises generated by religious orgs are within their protected right to create, unlike noises produced by private individuals, corporations and municipalities.
Where I grew up as a kid we lived near a church where the (real) bells went through a little melody every hour then finished with a number of gongs to match the hour....... As a kid I always knew at 6 gongs, it was time to go home for dinner. It never bothered me, actually I found it kind of comforting, then again that was city life not the country. I can see where fake bells could be anoying. Is this something new from that church?
When I was 5, my parents gave me a watch and told me to be in for supper when the big hand was on the 12 and the little one was on the 5. That method worked just fine.
I find the chimes very soothing. I'd much rather listen to them than ATV's, firecrackers and the late night clanking of horseshoes over by the clubhouse. That's NOISE!
If you like chimes, purchase a grandfathers clock. That way you can enjoy the noise without bothering those of us that do not want to be reminded of religion 4 times per hour.
Well don't complain about noise when there is so much other unnecessary noise around. ATV's up and down Telemark Rd. (I thought they were suppose to be driven off road???). Clanking of horseshoes and yelling and cheering late at night. And you complain about chimes?? Give me a break.
I may be wrong, but I seem to remember the idea of outside amplified sound being addressed at one of the CC meetings and they claimed that they were not planning anything like that. Not that such an assurance means much from them. I dont know how long the church up here has been doing it, but I have only noticed it the last couple of months. I guess it would be preferable then listening to partying and horseshoes all the time, but then again, its in addition to all that plus the ATVs, airplane noise (which they want to make worse), the heliport, etc, etc, etc. Some noise is beyond our control, such as that caused by the FAA patterns, but when given a choice, I prefer to listen to just the birds chirping rather then, 4, 8, 12, & 16 plus the hour, chimes every hour.
Anybody else notice that the bells have stopped. I wonder why. Maybe they had other complaints? I was ready to write them a letter myself and they stopped a few days ago. As long as its not temporary, I'm happy.
Cha Ching!
