Small town bureaucracy being what it is, you rarely see solutions proposed that actually accomplish anything.
That’s the problem with the town of Warwick’s latest attempt to fix the problem of rowdy bar patrons.
Warwick has some very good bars, all within a few hundred feet of each other. People being people, some get loud and rowdy, and disturb the peace. For some reason, the local town supervisor took a few minutes away from his greenhouse to address the issue… with a law that can both fine and jail an individual for generating a sound greater than 75db which is audible at the property line.
Ever run a blender? That’s 75db. Run that blender on your front doorstep, and you’ve just gotten a $250 fine and/or 15 days in jail.
Now the simple fix to this whole mess is to put more cops on the street. Make the thought of stepping out of line in this town so horrifying that the real troublemakers will go elsewhere – or they will simply fall into line and have a good time like everyone else who isn’t committing a crime.
I dropped off a comment to the story at The Warwick Advertiser today. Give it a read, let me know what you think – and by all means if you live in Warwick – let THEM know what you think.
