Cock Crows Too Early For Town

I came across the below Yahoo News article today and it prompted me to write this soapbox diatribe -

Wed Nov 28, 10:22 AM ET

ROME (Reuters) - A rooster crowing at the break of dawn has earned his owner a 200 euro ($295) fine in an Italian court after neighbors complained it was waking them up too early.

ANSA news agency reported on Wednesday that the rooster's owner in Bolzano province would appeal the sentence, supported by the local Farmers' Association, on the grounds that he needs at least one rooster to breed chickens.

This issue, if it truly is an issue, hits close to home for both my dad and I. You see apparently a crowing rooster is one of the only noise annoyances around these days and therefore many, if not most, towns have specific bylaws banning this animal because of their crowing. Of course towns seem to ignore other noise makers and go after the poor rooster/rooster owners. The town my dad lives in and the town I live in have such bylaws. Heaven forbid if a crowing rooster was to awaken some poor neighbor(s).

How bout these town start addressing and doing something about the other noise issues and other more important pressing issues? For example how bout they address the classroom sizes! My daughter is in accounting 1 that has a class size of 29 students. This to me is unacceptable but they've addressed the rooster issue! Let's see here are a few noise maker examples that come to mind:

1. The barking dog(s) - you know the dogs that are left outside for endless amounts of time, whether in a backyard kennel or tied to a runner or on the back porch or perhaps left to run free and it barks and barks and barks. The thing could be barking at it's shadow, a cricket, a walker, a jogger whatever but it barks and barks and barks. The owners of course never hear any of this and the dog continues to bark and bark and bark. However, this same neighbor, who doesn't hear their own dog carrying on is sure to hear a rooster crowing and be one of the first to call in a complaint...


2. The motorcycle(s) - it doesn't matter if it's a dirt-bag riding a Harley, a spoiled brat riding a rice-burner, a dick-head neighbor going through a mid-life crisis or anyone in between. The noise their motorcycle makes is fine, what noise they'll say. They'll rev their pieces of crap; vroom, vroom, vroom and be SO proud. However, these are prolly the same people who are the first to call in a complaint of a rooster crowing, go figure...


3. The truck(s) - typically the empty ones that are speeding up and down the street make the most noise but there are plenty of others that make just as much, if not more, noise. Like the landscaper trucks that pull the light trailers that bounce and rattle when it hits the tiniest pothole (actually is there such a thing as a tiny pothole? Like an asshole regardless of size, tiny or otherwise, if your an asshole you're an asshole. Same logic holds true for a pothole, yes?) Of course these knuckle heads might not live nearby but rest assured they have no problem with the noise their rigs make but they'll be one of the first to complain about a crowing rooster... Perhaps the town should address the speeding vehicle problem!


4. The neighbor(s) - this is a general statement and although not all neighbors are noisy there are some that are. Of course, in my opinion, the noisy neighbors are also the assholes. Like the neighbor, who perhaps is going through his midlife crisis. Maybe he's out in his driveway working on his airplane. You know tinkering with the engine and needing to start and stop it 4 or 5 times while letting it run for what seems like forever and SO proud of his toy. Or the neighbor that fires up his 'Hog' or riding mower at 7AM on a Sunday morning. Again, these prolly are the ones who pickup the phone to call in a noise complaint about a crowing rooster...