Protesters Raise a Ruckus Over Noise-Bill Delay

Capitol Hill resident Patti Shea protests near the home of D.C. Council member Jack Evans, who led a recent effort to delay a bill to limit loud public speech. (By Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post)
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"That's right. Feedback is legal," said Klavitter, 40, who works for a trade association and has a blog called Quest for Quiet. Since 2005, he has kept a record of the decibels and din at Eighth and H from the street preachers of the Israeli School of Universal Practical Knowledge.

The preachers have said they have lowered their volume and assemble later in the day to appease the complainers.

In front of Evans's house, Klavitter continued protesting, speaking in what sounded like tongues. Maybe it was a scat. Or was it just drivel?

"It would be more effective if we knew what they were saying," Donze said as Klavitter went into a "be-de-be-de-bop-bop."

Larry Calvert, who works in advertising at The Washington Post, couldn't take it anymore. Barefoot in a T-shirt and shorts and without an umbrella, he went out into the rain to confront the protesters, who were in front of his house. "This doesn't make sense," he told them, his words reverberating through the amplifiers.

Klavitter said they wanted to be at least 50 feet from Evans's house, in keeping with the legislation. He handed Calvert some spongy green earplugs. The disposable kind.

"Talk to your neighbor, ladies and gentlemen," said Shea, 36, referring to Evans. "I'm just getting started. I'm sure my voice at 7:20 in the mornin' ain't pretty."

When Evans walked out of his house with his daughters, who hopped into a sport-utility vehicle for a carpool, Shea greeted him: "Good morning, council member. Hi, Jack!"

Evans didn't say a word and didn't look back as he walked up the steps and into his house. In an interview, he said he has faced protesters in front of his house before; it seems to be part of his job. So go ahead and shout and amplify on P Street, he said: "It's absolutely their constitutional right to do it."

And about the bill he tabled, he said it needs work to protect free speech.

Froggin, 68, who moved into her Eighth Street home in 1991, said: "I was raised to believe that free speech is a precious right, but I also believe in the right to privacy. If I can't sit in my house and listen to music. . . ."

After 3-year-old Lucy Kerr was awakened by the clamor in front of her P Street home, she and her father wandered out. Joseph Kerr, 39, said he used to live in the H Street area and knows all about the street preachers. "I empathize. . . . I'm familiar with their cause," he said.

But he said he also wanted to sleep in. "It's a good lesson for her to learn," he said as Lucy spun in circles on the sidewalk in a raincoat and pink Crocs. "Unfortunately, the lesson is: Two wrongs don't make a right."

Klavitter acknowledged that the protesters' earsplitting display was "pretty rude. It's pretty obnoxious." But, he said, it's the only way they can be heard.