A Matter of Civil Liberties

An article on the front page of the Sun-News drew my attention and my thinking. The story itself was about kids getting tickets—and creating an altercation with the citing officer—on the main street of Silver City for riding bikes and skateboards on the sidewalks. Not many will argue that their civil liberties take a back seat to sidewalk safety. The town councilman who was interviewed as part of the story stated that a bigger issue in town is noise. Motorcycles rumble and roar down main street to and from the Buffalo Bar! Cars-as-amplifiers boom hip-hop and rap! Tourists leave and say they will never come back! The town is working on a noise ordinance but it’s taking too long! It’s true that there can be a dozen or more Harleys parked in front of the Buff and when those babies are fired up, well, you might be forgiven when you duck for cover. And the cars-as-amplifiers will literally vibrate the store windows as the cars cruise down the street and back up and back down again. The buildings set up a sympathetic harmonic – not pleasant, for sure – until you feel as though shake-and-bake was just the appetizer. The town councilman notes that a well-known author left town early because of the noise and further the councilman stated that she might write a nationally-read condemnation, which the town “doesn’t need” when it comes to impacting tourist revenue. I heard the owner of an in-town hotel say that he and others would like to see the Buff shut down because of the noise. That was while we were standing in line to get into the Buffalo Dance Hall (which is next door to the Bar) for a performance that was anything but quiet!

So here’s where I got to thinking. On the surface, the issue of civil liberties is not the issue – the question is rather one of town income versus town nuisance. That is, tourists versus Harley-noise and boom-cars. On that level, I’d go for noise control and town peace and prosperity. But pause….The tourists and leisure-seekers are a majority of…uhmm…white middle aged people with disposable income in cars with out-of-state license plates. Critical to the prosperity of our town – keeps business flowing for hotels, motels, B&Bs, stores and restaurants and gas stations and on to the secondary beneficiaries. The drivers of the cars-as-amplifiers appear to me to be largely young Hispanics from the local community, nee local high school. So what about their civil liberties – although their argument would be stronger if you could hear them! Sorry, couldn’t resist. And closer perhaps to home – at least closer to me in age – a bunch of the Harley riders proclaim themselves Vietnam Vets. They may be long-haired; they may be leather-clad; they may even get into a fight in the Buff from time to time. But they paid their dues. And another large percentage of the Harley riders appear to me to be Hispanic, again from the local community. Their culture may be beyond my ken. But still...

I thought it interesting that at the Blues Festival on Memorial Day we all gathered in the park to jam together. We all stood at the foot of the stage listening and moving to Coco Montoya or Ruthie Foster—a single community. But the fissure in the landscape shows up again the moment $$ are at stake. So when the town councilman and the local business people push for a noise ordinance and for closing the Buffalo Bar, where will be the balance between the common good for the community and what’s good for all members of this community.

Ok, enough thinking already – for the nonce, at least. Nutmeg has a job! One she volunteered for and seems to thoroughly enjoy. She retrieves the paper every morning. One day she grabbed the paper as we came in from the morning walk. And carried it to the kitchen. For which we (of course) gave her a treat! It took 3 days, flat, for her to connect paper-with-milkbone! Now, all I need to say is “paper? Let’s look for the paper!” and she’s off. She will even look under the scrub oak and in the rocks, because that’s where the paper ended up on one day each. And she’s so proud of her job performance. I don’t think there’s anything else that makes her look as top-o-the-mornin’. Can’t you just see her?