Noise

Feel the Noise, an urban drama about a Harlem, N.Y., rapper (Omarion Grandberry) finding a new beat in the Reggaeton sound, was not screened for critics.

Baltimore's City Council is considering two proposals that would widely expand the scope of the city's public nuisance law, allowing the police to evict home and business owners who are repeatedly making trouble in their neighborhood -- whether dealing drugs or throwing noisy parties. Both bills have majority support on the 15-member council -- including from members who are opponents in this year's election -- and the council appears increasingly likely to embrace some form of the legislation this year.

The rumble of tractor trailers and commuter traffic on nearby Interstate 95 doesn't bother Carol Banko.It's the roar of motorbikes in her neighbor's back yard south of Route 216 and west of I-95 in North Laurel that draws her ire."It's annoying," Banko says of the noise coming from a motorbike track built by Jonathan Miller. "If I'm having a picnic or an outing on my backyard deck, there's no way I could enjoy it because [the noise] is constant."It appears that Howard County officials agree.

This is a story of determination and dirt -- 100,000 cubic yards of it.It begins more than two years ago in a neighborhood alongside Route 32 in Columbia's River Hill village, where Karen Bellamy has a house that is satisfyingly suburban in every way except one: She can hear the constant rumble of speeding cars and 18-wheeler trucks on the four-lane highway just across Morning Time Lane.When the State Highway Administration said it wasn't responsible -- and wouldn't pay for sound walls or dirt for an earth berm to help mitigate the noise -- Bellamy decided to take the matter up herself.

Six hours.In that span, the operator of a gas station in North Laurel says he could continue serving customers whom he expects to arrive in droves to get gas, a doughnut or a car wash.But some civic activists contend that those six hours will mean more noise, more intrusive lighting and possibly more crime for the area.At issue is a request by Joseph Duncan to operate the Exxon in the 9200 block of All Saints Road 24 hours a day, seven days a week.The Howard County Board of Appeals is set to make a preliminary decision on the request at a work session at 7: 30 p.m. Thursday in the George Howard Building in Ellicott City.

WITH THE dying of the last, honest bit of daylight, and all the electric power in the house gone from the force of Hurricane Floyd, my wife and I gazed at the huge trees in the back yard Thursday evening and followed them into the sky.Those trees have been there forever. They've survived rain and gusts and history of all kinds, and fiercer troubles than Floyd, whose very name sounds more country bumpkinish than menace.But the leaves in those trees were shivering in blustery wind now, the way a spaniel shivers when drying off. And the branches seemed to grope about in the gathering darkness.

BUYER BEWARE certainly applies better to humans than bog turtles. But if government forbids construction in wetlands partly because it would harm the creatures there, why does it approve construction of homes beside highways when it has proof the noise could injure the residents?Howard County erred in approving new homes so close to Route 100 the deeds include a warning: Living there "may result in hearing impairment," records say.Like "rubberneckers" gawking at an accident, or one about to happen, county officials merely express amazement that the builder of a subdivision called Brampton Hills is asking $270,000 for homes on lots that exceed 65 decibels.

Residents opposed to Fort Meade's planned skeet and trapshooting range are angry over what they call the short notice of a public forum on the topic, scheduled for Thursday."

A Carroll County judge plans to visit Deep Run Rifle & Revolver Club Inc. near Union Mills before ruling on a lawsuit by some nearby residents who are seeking a court order to reduce the noise level.Several residents testified when the trial began in January that they lived in peace with the gun range until several years ago, when the club started holding bowling-pin shoots and cowboy-action events that draw more contestants, last longer and produce thousands more shots a day."The trend throughout the shooting sports is [toward]

Families in the Allwood I community east of Baltimore-Washington International Airport will no longer have to shake and rattle each time planes begin to roll.Thanks to a federal grant, six more homes, and eventually the rest of the community, will soon be reinforced with concrete slabs, new insulation, drywall, and siding, caulking and weather stripping that will help keep their windows and doors in place.The $1.24 million from the Federal Aviation Administration will be added to state money that has been set aside to give neighbors of the airport peace.

The problem:: A mystery device parked on a Canton corner emits fumes and makes noise all day. The back story:: Richard Przybyszewski's new neighbor of about six weeks hasn't been very friendly. All day and night, a generator on a trailer parked on South Clinton Street at Eastern Avenue rumbles and gives off noxious fumes, he said. "I woke up one morning early ... and there it was, unannounced, sitting there on the corner," he said. "It's been on 24-7, seven days a week." The machine, which bears a Sprint decal, is linked by wires to a building on the corner.

Think of the loudest event you've ever attended. A Metallica concert? A monster-truck rally? Bike Week in Daytona Beach? Please, that's kid stuff. Now imagine that noise sustained for three hours and you have football at the charming Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, where hearing goes to die and where the Ravens play the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. Hey, Joe Flacco: Good luck calling signals when thousands of beer-swilling Vikings fans get wound up and the noise literally bounces off the Teflon-coated roof and around the tight concrete wasteland below.

BERKELEY, Calif. -- Despite entering as a three-touchdown underdog, Maryland's young football team possessed a certain swagger before its game against No. 12 California. Players talked about making a "statement" on national television. As it begins preparing for its home opener against James Madison on Saturday, the team's challenge is to quickly get over the jolt sustained as it was dismantled by Cal, 52-13, the Terps' worst opening-game loss since 1892. Team leaders said Maryland needs to somehow face reality without losing its edge - its youthful arrogance.

In a town as lively and full of talent as Baltimore, it's a shame the night life isn't all it could be. There are plenty of venues that would gladly trade their juke boxes for live musical acts, poetry readings and performance art, thus burnishing their image as local watering holes. It not need all be high-decibel, heavy-metal garage band fare. We recall a time when a bookstore-cafe along Charles Street served up string quartets performed by Peabody Institute students, lute concerts by a local early music group and ragtime piano played on an old upright.

While news of the fatal commuter train accident in Washington yesterday spread quickly through the neighborhoods surrounding the site, the concern was intensely personal for one resident. "My daughter and my grandson is on that train. I had gone to Fort Totten to pick them up," said Alice Miller, who wore a Jesus pin on her yellow dress. After the crash, her daughter, Karen Miller Long, 46, of Upper Marlboro, called her from the crumpled train, saying she had been standing when she felt the impact and could see her mother's backyard.

Brandon Pustejovsky was still awake, unable to sleep through the loud noises coming from the last-call crowd outside the historic Belvedere Hotel where he lives. Then came the sound of gunshots. Six of them, loud. "I looked at my wife - she said, 'You're kidding me. You're kidding me,' " Pustejovsky, 36, said. When he ran downstairs, he saw the aftermath of a fight that left two people shot and another man stabbed. A woman wearing a green shirt and white jeans was lying face down, with a bartender holding a towel to her leg to stop the bleeding.

Girls Rock! does raise a joyful noise - emphasis on the noise. Two male documentary makers, Shane King and Arne Johnson, train their cameras on the Portland, Ore.-based Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls, where 8- to 18-year-olds spend a week forming groups and making music. The directors frame their story with animated data about the disadvantages girls face in an outside world that objectifies women as sex objects and discourages their attempts to be appreciated for brains, strength and talent.

Make your mosh pit skills a force for good. Every Time I Die, From First to Last, the Bled and the Human Abstract are bringing the noise to benefit the organization Do Something, as part of the Take Action Tour. Started in 1999, the tour benefits nonprofit organizations that encourage positive activism and has raised more than $450,000. The Take Action Tour comes to Rams Head Live at 6 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $16 in advance, $20 at the door. Rams Head Live is at 20 Market Place. Call 410-244-1131 or go to ramsheadlive.

A series of explosions at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground yesterday rattled dishes and startled residents from Perry Hall to Middletown, Del., 30 miles away. "The entire house shook," said Joseph MulQueen, who called The Sun from his home in Perry Hall to report what he thought was an earthquake. A check of area seismographs revealed no tremors. But officials at Aberdeen acknowledged that a series of afternoon blasts in the facility's Edgewood area did trigger about 30 phone calls.

MIAMI -- A phonograph in a wireless world. That's what the Orange Bowl was at the end. All around the antique, there are iPods and computers and digital downloads. But the old lady, scratched and weary, could still be cranked up to transport you to that magical place where yesterday feels better than today. And she did it again Saturday night, one last time. Like the phonograph, she allowed you to close your eyes and let the music wash over you along with the memories. Soon, the wrecking balls will come.