Woman cited then jailed overnight for “praising God in my own home” too loudly

Spirit of 46 who shared this story wrote:

This story is interesting to say the least. I know that some of you “part time” copblockers-those who only agree with the first amendment if it’s speech, religion, etc that you APPROVE OF will come off attacking this and siding with the cops. But for what it’s worth-here is a woman arrested for singing gospel music and listening to it too loudly in her own home during the daylight hours.

Personally I think she may have had a citation or something coming if it was truly that darn loud HOWEVER it begs the question: How far do we go regulating what people do in their own homes? We really ought to leave people alone within their own homes. Perhaps inclusion of this story will get more folks thinking about police powers in the U.S.

Woman arrested for singing gospel too loudly from ky3.com:

BRISTOL, Tenn. — A Bristol, Tennessee woman says she was arrested for praising the Lord too loudly, but police said her music and singing was disturbing her neighbors.

Betty Jones spends five hours every Sunday praising the Lord at her home with song and dance, starting with the gospel of Johnny Cash, then the Judds, Alan Jackson and ending with Elvis Presley.

On Sunday, May 27, police were called to the 54-year-old’s home around 2:30 p.m. for the loud music disturbing the neighborhood.

“I don’t do it to aggravate anybody. I do it to exercise my legs and praise God like he wants me to,” Jones said.

According to the police report the officers helped Jones turn down the bass on the stereo and gave her a warning.

Jones told police she would continue to listen to it how she wanted to and sing and praise the Lord and hoped he forgave the officers.

Officers were called back to the house at 4 p.m.

In the report they state they could hear the music from two houses away.

When they went to the front door to explain the noise ordinance to her, police said Jones began talking over them and slammed the door in their face.

She was issued a citation, which she refused to sign.

The Bristol noise ordinance states any unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary noise is prohibited.

“If it begins to annoy your neighbors in the area and you’re getting complaints about that, then it violates that statute,” explained police officer Johnny Hale.

The officers left a copy of the citation with Jones and she gave them a message.

“Randy Travis was singing ‘I’m going home to pray to God tonight and hopefully he’ll forgive my sins.’ I looked at that officer and said ‘you better go home tonight and pray for your sins because that’s what Randy is telling you,” she said. “That’s the gospel truth. Randy Travis told that man to go home and pray.”

The police did go home, but they were called back to the house on Monday for the loud music again.

They arrested Jones on two counts of disorderly conduct and violation of the noise ordinance.

“I was going off and cussing,” she said. “I was so upset and shaken.”

She spent the night in jail and was released on a $1,000 bond.

“I was praising God in my own home,” she said. “We have the right to praise God, especially if we can’t make it to church.”