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Inalienable right to peace and quiet

This is regarding what has become a feud between the new beer tavern, HopMonk, and the neighborhood residents.

Everyone involved - the Sonoma Planning Commission, the tavern owner, the neighbors - seems to have lost sight of what is at stake here. It is not the volume of the music, nor is it the number of hours, or which days it plays, but where it goes that matters.

It is the fact that the air space, the right to peace and privacy of fellow human beings, has been violated. The harmony of a great neighborhood is being compromised.

The amplified outdoor music from HopMonk, a noisome and unwanted guest, barges into other people's homes and backyards.

The owner of HopMonk has received copies of the numerous complaints. And yet, like a bad neighbor, he insists on having his own way regardless of the - to use a war expression - collateral damage.

Is it fair for a business to run hotrod over the rights of private citizens and destroy their peace? In their own home?

All these people want is to be able to enjoy their backyards, or their homes with windows wide open. They want to regain the sense of well-being they enjoyed before the tavern's amplified outdoor music started.

What is at stake here is simply the "inalienable right" to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Pierrette Duriez

Sonoma