Walker sees some ways to improve the community

Dear editor:

I have been walking around this town now for about 9 or 10 years and I have noticed some things which I would like to bring to the attention of our citizens. I do not wish to criticize but more to challenge the good people of our fine community to make it a better place to live.

Noise, have you ever noticed how much dogs bark? I don't blame the dog, but I do question the owner's respect for their neighbors and those around them. There are no bad dogs, just disrespectful and rude owners. I also see many dogs left in the same condition day after day, to me that borders on neglect.

If you want to own a pet, please respect the pet by caring for it properly. Also, respect your neighbor's privacy by not letting your dog bark for long periods, a long period is about two minutes for your neighbors. If you want respect you must give respect.

The next thing you will notice are the loud radios coming from cars and trucks, some of them are so loud you can hear them 4 or 5 blocks away.

Most of the people doing this are "children." Again, we don't have bad children, we do however, have some bad parents or we have parents and children who have no respect for other people's privacy. Contrary to popular belief no one has the right to disturb those around you by insisting we listen to your radio or CD or whatever.

I cannot understand what kind of perverse pleasure someone gets out of playing their radios etc., so loud that it can be heard five blocks away. Noise can elicit many emotional responses in people, i.e. ,good music "soothes the wild beast." Whereas loud music/noise "arouses the wild beast" and causes all kinds of adverse behavior.

I would challenge all parents and children to ask yourself about the noise you create, does it disturb my neighbors? Am I being disrespectful? People who have those loud noise machines-please consider the respect you want, and then respect those around you. If you can hear it outside your vehicle it's to loud. All of us want and deserve quality life. Consider how nice and peaceful our town would and could be if we all truly respected and cared for each other. If you want your "music" that loud put on a set of headphones.

A couple of other things that have always bothered me, bands in Carl Miller Park. I understand the idea, but, has anyone ever thought about the people who live right next to the park? The same with all of our parks. Why must we have events of any kind that loud in residential areas?

Optimist Park is the one that could or should have some events of this nature and those should be limited. The entertainers need to realize that not everyone enjoys what they have to play or say. We seem to think we have some kind of divine right to make noise no matter what, that is the wrong message.

Our children then think they have the same rights and things escalate from there. We need to first take most of these loud events inside and not disturb those who don't want to listen to whatever is being played outside. It's called respect for others.

The other things I would like to bring up is our car dealerships. They seem to think blaring something over their loudspeakers will attract people.

Why? It sounds more like a disco than a car dealership....

I challenge our city council and our mayor to lead the way. I challenge each and every citizen in Mountain Home to help make our town a better and quieter place to live. I ask our police officers to take dog complaints more seriously.

We do have laws that need to be enforced. We can make dog owners respect us and their dogs better. They do now make an anti-barking collar. Maybe police officers could recommend those to people who have more than one call about their dogs barking. Maybe the city council could make an ordinance that would require certain dogs to have anti-barking collars.

I realize I have written a lot and some of it will offend some, but, I also think the majority of Mountain Home citizens would appreciate less noise and more respect.

Larry Heinen