No Shelter from Raining Words

(CLICK TO ENLARGE) An umbrella provides little protection against a blaring amplifier at the H and 8th Streets NE bus stops Saturday. The broken D.C. noise law, which permits unlimited decibels of amplified noncommercial speech anywhere in the city from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., is much like forcing people without protection to stand in the rain. The neighborhood--including residents, business owners and customers, as well as Metro Transit bus patrons--were forced to learn new phrases during the weekend, such as “faggoty faggotism,” which the yellers claim was the cause of child molestation. The city council must fix this leaky roof when they return from recess in September. (Copyright © 2006. David Klavitter)