Hello Everyone,

Evelyn here,

The boomer cars drivers were up to their antics in high form yesterday evening. Those that do it have demonstrated no thoughts of caring for the concerns or welfare of their neighbors and of late have shown open disdain.

The situation is worse in other parts of the country either, and in a report from WKYC-TV for one Cleveland man such disdain cost him life.

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CLEVELAND -- Estevan Argenal was charged with aggravated murder in the stabbing death of a neighbor over the weekend.

The victim was 33. Notification has not been made to his next of kin at this time.

At approximately 9:45 a.m. on Dec. 14, the two neighbors got into an argument over loud music. It had been an on going dispute between the victim and Argenal.

The victim was allegedly yelling and banging on the walls. After approximately 2 hours, Argenal went downstairs and confronted the victim. The argument escalated and Argenal allegedly stabbed the victim.

The victim fled north on W. 87th Street to 8701 Lake Ave., where he received assistance from employees. Police responded and Argenal was arrested.

The victim was taken MetroHealth Medical Center, where he later died.

The incident is under investigation. A coroner's ruling is pending.

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We who struggle here in the city of St. Petersburg to stop the excessive loud music and other unhealthy noises can only pray that our struggle does not go this far before it is given the attention it deserves from our officials. To date we are still trying to get a noise complaint form on the police department web site.

Evelyn out.

Consumer Advisory - Attorney General Encourages CyberSafety over the Holidays

Hello Everyone,

Evelyn here,


with a consumer advisory from the Office of the Attorney General, Bill McCollum on how get children safety during this holiday seasons.

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         ATTORNEY GENERAL ENCOURAGES CYBERSAFETY OVER THE HOLIDAYS
     ~ As schools let out, many children will spend more time online ~

 TALLAHASSEE, FL – As Florida schools let out for the holidays, Attorney
 General Bill McCollum today issued an advisory encouraging parents to talk
 to their children about cybersafety. During the holiday break, children
 have more leisure time and often spend more time on the internet. The
 Attorney General emphasized the importance of taking a proactive approach
 to teaching children safe internet use and encouraged parents to become
 familiar with the websites their children visit and programs they use.

 “Parents can make cybersafety a priority in their homes by talking to
 their children about internet safety and how to avoid attacks from
 internet child predators,” said Attorney General McCollum. “Education is
 one of the best tools children have to protect themselves while using the
 internet.”

 Last Christmas Eve, the Attorney General’s CyberCrime Unit arrested a
 Seminole County man who traveled to meet a young girl for a sexual
 encounter. The man had met the teenager in a chatroom and sexually
 solicited her, but her parents alerted the CyberCrime Unit and the man was
 subsequently taken into custody. That man is now serving a 63-month prison
 sentence.

 The Attorney General offered the following list of internet safety tips
 for parents to share with their children:

 -    Children should be discouraged from chatting online with someone they
 do not know in real life;
 -    Never give out or post personal information like last names,
 addresses and dates of birth;
 -    Never post photos or use screen names which may reveal personal
 information such as age or school name, or photos that may be considered
 provocative or seductive;
 -    Children should never make plans to meet someone who they have only
 met online without a parent present; and
 -    Always report any inappropriate chatting or sexual solicitations
 received online.

 Additional tips on safe internet surfing for parents, students and
 educators are on the Attorney General’s cybersafety website at
 http://www.safeflorida.net/safesurf.

 The Attorney General also encouraged Florida’s middle and high school
 principals to set aside time during the spring semester to schedule
 cybersafety presentations for their students. The Attorney General’s
 50-minute interactive CyberSafety Presentation has reached over 85,000
 students this school year with real-life stories and examples about safe
 internet use and the tactics commonly used by internet child predators.

 Principals can go to http://www.safeflorida.net/safeschools to schedule
 cybersafety presentations with a volunteer from the Attorney General’s
 Office or one of several hundred school resource officers specially
 trained in cybersafety.

-------

Evelyn out.

Boom Car Driver Resorts to Threats of Rape

Hello Everyone,

Evelyn here,

with a very disturbing report. Early this morning a boom car driver and his male companions resorted to playing music filled with bad language, threats of rape, and other violence. The men involved in this incident talked and laughed loudly among themselves while they walked back and fore from to the car that blared the obscenities to an apartment at least four to six doors up from my location.

There was at least four to five black men involved in this incident, and their ages ranged from late thirties to early fifties. They seemed unconcerned about breaking the noise law with such loud and obscene trash. One of the men wore a bright orange shirt, and the others wore darker clothing. At first, there was not enough light to see the car but someone turned on some additional light. The car they stood beside was a long older model (80s), gray in color with a replacement panel of a darker gray on front right fender. The car could be an old Buick, Chevy, or Pontiac. It could belong to the resident responsible for the incident, but most likely, it belongs to one of resident’s visitors.

Nevertheless, one thing is clear, these men were attempting to attract the attention someone and threaten him or her.

There was an incident of loud music and revving up of a car engine late Friday night, but the driver soon left and the incident was left unreported. However, this morning driver was out there at 1:00 AM, he turned the volume of the stereo up and down until he, and his companions finally left the complex. Naturally, they left just prior to the police officers arrival. As for the male resident involved in this incident, and who is responsible for all their actions, he is in an apartment four to six door up, which should make it easy for the authorities to find him. He and his companions have now graduated from a simple breaking of a noise law to issuing threats of rape and other violence. That there was music behind their message makes it no mess the threat.

Evelyn out.

Hello Everyone,

Evelyn here,

The conscientious citizens of Pinellas County are scoring victory after victory in their efforts to make Florida a noise free state. The most recent victory has been the "Vehicle Noise Complaint Form" on the Large Police Department official website.

http://www.largo.com/egov/apps/action/center.egov?action=form&item=63


Fantastic job Largo!

Evelyn out.

Hello Everyone,

Evelyn here,

with as important article by Jane E. Brody about the damage caused to children hearing from excessive sounds.

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Personal Health
All That Noise Is Damaging Children's Hearing

By JANE E. BRODY
Published: December 8, 2008

Michael became hooked on headphones in his early teens. He walked the streets of Brooklyn day after day with his favorite music blasting directly into his ears. By his early 20s, the sensory hair cells in his inner ears had been permanently damaged and Michael had lost much of his upper-range hearing.

The Children's Hearing Institute reports that hearing loss among children and young adults is rising in the United States, and that one-third of the damage is caused by noise.

According to the American Academy of Audiology, about one child in eight has noise-induced hearing loss. That means some five million children have an entirely preventable disability that will stay with them for life.

The academy has begun a "turn it to the left" (the volume dial, that is) awareness campaign in hopes of protecting current and future generations of youngsters from unwittingly damaging their hearing. Often, the problem is not detected until children develop persistent ringing in the ears or begin to have learning or behavior problems in school because of trouble understanding speech.

Although newborns are now routinely screened for hearing loss, there is no federal mandate for screening the hearing of school-age children. What testing is done often fails to check hearing at high enough pitches, a federal research team pointed out in the journal Pediatrics.

Surrounded by Noise

We live in a noisy world. Young and old alike are beset by sounds over which we may have little or no control: power mowers, leaf blowers, snow blowers, car and house alarms, sirens, motorcycles, Jet Skis, loudspeakers, even movie previews.

We attend rock concerts, weddings, parties and sports events at which the music is so loud you can hardly hear the person sitting next to you. At home, televisions, stereos and computer games are often turned up so loud that listeners cannot hear a doorbell or a telephone.

Many "modern" restaurants have opted for noise enhancement instead of abatement. And try having a conversation in a school cafeteria at lunchtime.

Any time you need to shout to be heard by someone near you, your hearing is most likely to be in a decibel danger zone.

As if environmental noise were not enough, now we besiege children with noisy toys and personal listening devices that can permanently damage their hearing. Toys that meet the safety standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials can produce sound up to 138 decibels, as loud as a jet taking off. Yet workplace rules require hearing protection for those exposed to noise above 85 decibels.

A series of studies conducted in 2002 among 116 infants by researchers at Johns Hopkins indicated that even moderate background noise can interfere with how they learn language. The effect on babies' hearing in a noisy house is similar to what an older person with age-related hearing loss may encounter at a crowded cocktail party.

A landmark study in 1975 found that children in classrooms on the noisy side of a school had lower reading scores than those whose classes were on the quiet side.

Noise-induced hearing loss can come about in two ways: from a brief exposure to a very loud noise or from consistent exposure to moderate-level noise. Thus, there is much concern about the lasting effects of MP3 players that are turned up loud enough to block out surrounding sound, like street noise. An MP3 player at maximum volume produces about 105 decibels - 100 times as intense as 85 decibels, where hearing damage begins. (For every 10 decibels, sound intensity increases tenfold.)

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health says 110 decibels can produce hearing damage after just 1 minute, 29 seconds of exposure. The League for the Hard of Hearing cautions that "noise levels above 85 decibels will harm hearing over time" and that levels above 140 decibels - the pain threshold - can damage hearing after just one exposure.

New bone-conduction headphones that hook over the ears and pass sound through the skull to the inner ear may not solve the problem. While they allow listeners to hear an oncoming car or a person speaking, users may turn up the volume to overcome ambient noise, damaging the 15,000 tiny hair cells in the inner ear that transfer sound energy to the brain.

Once damaged, hair cells can neither be repaired nor replaced. The damage makes it difficult to hear high-pitched sounds, including certain speech sounds and the voices of women and children. Tinnitus, a continuous ringing, roaring or clicking in the ears, can also result.

Protecting Young Ears

Before buying noisemaking toys, parents would do well to listen to how loud they are. If the item comes with a volume control, monitor its use to make sure it is kept near the lowest level. Consider returning gifts that make loud noises, or disable the noise-making function. Or restrict the use of noisy toys to outside play areas.

Children who play computer games and stereo equipment should be warned to keep the volume down. Time spent in video arcades, where the noise level can exceed 110 decibels, should be strictly limited. Most iPods have a control that allows parents to set a maximum volume.

Avoid taking children to loud action movies. If you do go and the sound seems deafening, ask the management to turn down the volume or insist on your money back. Children who play in bands and teenagers who use power tools, gardening equipment or guns should be made to wear hearing protection, available at pharmacies and hardware and sporting goods stores.

The League for the Hard of Hearing urges parents to encourage participation in quiet activities, like reading, watching family-oriented films, doing puzzles, making things with construction toys, playing educational computer games, drawing and painting, and visiting libraries and museums.

-----------------

Evelyn out.

Clearwater Police Department Launches New Program: “Operation Clamp the Amp”

Hello Everyone,

Evelyn here,

The battle to end the terror of excessive noise throughout the state of Florida has a new victory. The city of Clearwater has launched its new program site, "Operation Clamp the Amp." An alert and dedicated NoiseOff member posted the article below.

------------------

Date last updated: 12/3/2008 11:11:23 AM


Clearwater, Florida - It's loud. It's annoying. It's against the law. The
Clearwater Police Department is starting a new program - "Clamp the Amp."

Citizens can now report booming car stereos by going online and entering a
few details.

Citizens who witness amplified car stereo volume should note the date and
location of the incident, the vehicle type, tag number and a brief
description of the driver if possible.

Reporting excessive volume will generate a letter from the Clearwater Police
Department to the vehicle's registered owner. A police officer must observe
the offense to take enforcement action, but the letter will warn the driver
of the violation and make a record of complaints.

Florida Statute 316.3045 prohibits amplified sound from a car that is
audible 25 feet or more. The penalty is a $91 fine.

To report violations go to www.clearwaterpolice.org
<http://www.clearwaterpolice.org/>

Clearwater Police Department

------------------

Will the Saint Petersburg Police Department follow Clearwater’s example anytime soon?

Evelyn out.

Hillary Rodham Clinton to Stand with President-elect Obama

Hello Everyone,

Evelyn here,

The is breaking news from Politico.com

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Politico.com Breaking News:
-----------------------------------------------------

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) will stand with President-elect Obama at 10:40 a.m. Eastern time on Monday as he names her secretary of State, Democratic officials said. At the news conference unveiling his national-security team at a Chicago hotel, Obama will also announce he is retaining Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the Pentagon and making retired Marine general James Jones his national security adviser, the officials said.

For more information...http://www.politico.com

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Evelyn out.