By TEREASA NIMS
Sunday Times Newspapers
WYNDOTTE – Tom Kaul found himself having to keep his windows closed to keep the summer noises at bay from the Wyandotte Boat Club’s early rowing maneuvers.
Kaul attended Monday night’s City Council meeting complaining about the noise, which he said began at 5 a.m. He said the coaches used bullhorns to address their teams. He said the noise has occurred for years, saying that Mayor Joseph Peterson knows from his days with the Police Department.
“Even as far back as his days as a detective when I lodged a complaint about this very thing,” Kaul said. “Back then it was a sporadic event, today it is an everyday occurrence.”
The boat club has apologized for the noise and the council has asked the group to cease and assist the use of bullhorns during the early morning practices. Further, police will enforce the ordinance in the area.
Police Chief Daniel Grant said he is happy with the resolution.
Kaul said that on June 4 there were four sets of coaches and their crews out practicing in the early morning with each coach using a bullhorn.
“On that morning the noise from these devices was so loud that one coach turned up the volume on his bullhorn so that he could be heard over the din of the other bullhorns,” Kaul said.
On June 24, Kaul said a coach used profanity over the bullhorn, which Kaul said is the incident that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“It is totally inappropriate, as is the use of this device to extol the virtues of vitamin B to their crew and my neighbors before dawn,” Kaul said.
He said the coaches bring their crews through a four-block long residential neighborhood using these bullhorns with impunity.
Kaul questioned why the city doesn’t enforce the noise ordinance in his neighborhood on Van Alstyne like it would for other neighborhoods.
In a letter to the City Council prior to the meeting, Kaul wrote, “I expect the only option my neighbors and myself have left, because the city of Wyandotte refuses to enforce its own noise ordinances, is to appeal our tax rates at the next Board of Review and then to the state Tax Tribunal. Since the city is discriminating in its enforcement of these ordinances in my neighborhood I will be encouraging the 100 or so of my neighbors who are also taxpayers to appeal their taxes also.”
Kaul said he and his neighbors deserve peace and tranquility in their neighborhood.
Boat Club Coach Gary Ellison was not available for comment.
(Tereasa Nims can be reached at [email protected].)