COMMUNITY COMMENTARY -- Randy Seton

All this fuss about Dennis Rodman is a bit out of line, but when it

comes to fun, typical Newport Beach says if you hear noise, call the

police.

But I do feel sorry for the neighbors late at night. I remember the

‘50s and ‘60s, when a lot of the now old-timers drew some big crowds on

Balboa Island.

And over on the peninsula, remember the infamous Bird Club? They

started the wet T-shirt contests right in our Back Bay at the annual

tricycle races. But they never got into this big of a stink, and that was

the era when we still had propeller-driven commercial aircraft flying out

of Orange County Airport that would really vibrate your house.

Then, at 9:45 p.m., the Newport Beach Police Department stormed over

Balboa Island bridge with a motorcycle, squad car and a paddy wagon,

announcing on a loud speaker for anyone under the age of 18 to get off

the streets because the 10 p.m. curfew would put you in jail.

Kids were singled out and basically banished from hanging out or

having fun. There were no fights and hardly more than the typical teen

pranks that most of us would have to fess up to at least once in our

perfectness.

I don’t suppose Councilman Gary Proctor ever took part in a party or

raised a yell or two of celebration in his life. Let’s have some

democratic fairness, please include in this tough ordinance for noise the

following: the constant jet noise over our city, any baby crying late at

night, all construction noise in the morning, police helicopter noise,

tennis shoes in the dryer noise, Taste of Newport noise, Fourth of July

fireworksnoise, alarm clock noise, skateboard noise, surf noise, Monday

Night Football and basketball hooting noise, yacht club canons,

Harley-Davidson motorcycle noise, car alarm noise, fishing boat speaker

noise, Balboa Island ferry noise, barking seal noise, noisy ocean racing

boat noise, the bell buoy noise, that low decibel thumping of car stereo

noise, and, heaven forbid, those sex moans and groans, and those great

blue heron screeches.

I’ll stop, but it’s a noisy world out there, isn’t it?

It’s also too bad that most of the closed restaurants and bars in town

had restrictions about noise and lost their music permits because

somebody heard that kind of noise. Plus, it’s a shame that the police

have to monitor such petty complaints and embellish the story to make it

look like a real serious problem.

I really hope that our celebrity citizen doesn’t call in Johnnie

Cochran for harassment, and let’s hope they don’t call out the race card

to the injustice of having fun.

Why don’t we have special fun police or party police, and they can

charge a fee to usher parties and keep invited guests and citizens from

disturbing the peace in our city?

Oh well, nothing’s perfect, and our little beach town is a big city

now, so I’ll stop making ink noise.

We will all have peace and quiet someday, and that will be at Pacific

View Cemetery. It has a lovely view of the bay and ocean.

* RANDY SETON has been a resident of Balboa Island for 40 years.