Noisy offenders ordered to listen to Barry Manilow

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Noisy offenders ordered to listen to Barry Manilow

by Bromstein

Where are the human rights advocates when you need them?

Reuter's says a U.S. judge has a successful new form of punishment

for people who go to court for being too noisy – " an hour of

listening to Barry Manilow or the theme tune from the children's TV

show 'Barney and Friends.' "

Oh! The Copacabanity!

Judge Sacco decided to try something novel after realizing that

violators brought before his Colorado court for playing stereos too

loudly or disturbing neighbours with band practices, just kept doing

it again.

" The usual practice of fining these offenders was not proving to be a

deterrent so he decided to give them a dose of their own medicine and

make them listen to his musical selection at high volume for one

hour. "

Sacco told Reuters Television it's a way of teaching people manners

and said his methods had cut the number of repeat offenders appearing

in his court.

Seriously? An hour of Barry Manilow? I'm sure it will shock

absolutely no one to learn that I quite like Barry Manilow. Mandy?

Come on! That's a classic right there.

Offenders who are found to enjoy facing the music will apparently

have the songs removed from the playlist, as the point, of course, is

to make people listen to music they don't like.

" Court officials, " Reuters explains, " take surveys after each session

and if it turns out that many of the offenders happen to like a

particular song, that tune is removed. "

According to the UK Daily Mail, also on the list are tracks by the

Carpenters, the Platters and Dolly Parton – who is, of course, one of

the coolest ladies in the Universe. Colorado clearly has very bad

taste.

This is like back in October when hip hop fan Vactor was told

he could decrease his noise violation fine if he listened to 20 hours

of Beethoven compositions.

These innovative punishments are starting to look like a great way to

teach music history.

Also reminds me of that Welsh guy who was ordered to destroy his

record collection after subjecting neighbours to blasts of Cher and

U2.