The Editor, Sir:

I read with renewed apathy the decision of the commissioner to examine enforcing the Noise Abatement Act. The tone of the article lacks a certain necessary conviction. I wish to underscore the fact that this act appears to makes no distinction between night and day. The same rule applies be it night or day.

Jamaica is a very noisy place filled with noisy people who display little regard for the rights of others. I have come to this conclusion for the reason that across the country, and particularly in so-called 'inner cities', the organisers of these atrocities pitch their speakers on public sidewalks within a residential enclave and start their blasting from as early as 6:00 p.m. until the early morning hours. In one particular instance, it was the police who intervened at 5 o'clock on Sunday morning to stop the racket.

Lawlessness is the order of the day in Jamaica, as it is only recently that the police themselves seem to have toned down their own noise from their premises on Ruthven Road. The general feeling seems to be that if there is some type of event maybe once per week or only on weekends, then the rest of us who are the 'haters' should tolerate the noise nuisance. This is the kind of thinking that fosters our dysfunctional society. The laws which exist are merely our scarecrow.

We have reached a most severe state of affairs in this country on all fronts. This is nothing alarming, as, throughout history, there are examples of cities which faced economic and social decay; 16th-century Rome after Pope Gregory XIII provides such an example. According to Wikipedia, Gregory XIII left the ecclesiastical states in a terrible condition, which called for prompt and stern measures. Against this background of lawlessness, Sixtus V acted ferociously and with severity, justified only by extreme necessity. He rounded up thugs by the thousands and had them all shot.

Severe but effective

Sixtus V was severe but effective. His ideas of justice ensured that within a short time, the country was again quiet and safe. Naturally, Sixtus V was not popular and was "loathed by his subjects on his deathbed." However, history recognises him as one of the great figures of the Counter-Reformation. Sixtus V's position protected the innocent. Today, laws protect the guilty, and the innocent face not one, but two threats, one from hoodlums and the other from ineffective laws.

I am, etc.,

C. ALEXANDER

worthycause@hotmail.com

Kingston 5

Via Go-Jamaica