SYDNEY, Australia - Using loud Barry Manilow (pictured above) music to drive away late-night revelers from a suburban Sydney park is getting on the nerves of nearby residents.
In a move reminiscent of U.S. efforts to use music to drive former Panama strongman Manuel Noriega from the Vatican Embassy in 1989, the local council in Rockdale, in Sydney's southern suburbs, started a six-month trial of high-volume hits by Manilow and Doris Day to chase away car enthusiasts who were gathering on weekend nights at Cook Park Reserve.
Some who live near the park are less than enthralled. They say the barrage of "Copacabana," "Could It Be Magic" and "Que Sera Sera," blasting from 9 p.m. to midnight every Friday, Saturday and Sunday is driving them crazy.
"I just can't sleep when it's on, and to think there's going to be another six months of this," said Moya Dunn.
Pass for Pabst's past
ADVERTISEMENT
Milwaukee officials are considering lifting a decade-old ban on selling Pabst beer at county facilities, according to newspaper reports.
The ban was put in place in 1996 after Pabst shuttered its Milwaukee plant and cut health benefits for retirees, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported last week.
With new owners signing a deal with Miller to bottle Pabst products locally, the makers of Pabst Blue Ribbon, Old Style and Old Milwaukee deserve a second chance, Supervisor Roger Quindel told the newspaper.
"If you boycott people forever, why would they change?" Quindel said.
For lovers of potties
NORFOLK, Va. - Virginia officials want to make it easier for water lovers to find relief away from shore.
The state Department of Health is planning a floating restroom - a sort of a barge on which bathrooms are bolted. It would be used by operators of small boats, riders of personal watercraft or in areas where people go tubing, said Anne Smith, a consultant with the department.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality recently released a report saying some state waterways are polluted with fecal bacteria, which can come from solid human or pet waste.
ADVERTISEMENT
In a hurricane, someone would have to pull the boat to shore. "That would be the last thing you'd want flipped over," said Connie Barbour, a fisherman and an owner of Long Bay Pointe Bait and Tackle in Virginia Beach.
Today's Best Bet
"Seasons of the Soul"
Guided meditation
Red Dragon Energy Healing & Meditation Center
14 Roberts St. N., Fargo
7 p.m.
(701) 306-5404
ADVERTISEMENT
If there's something you want to see in The Rail, e-mail Features Editor John Lamb at jlamb@forumcomm.com
