Barney Vincelette has used his background in electro-magnetism to create machines that jam his neighbors' stereos, creating a loud buzz. (Photo: WBOC)

04/23/2007

HOUSTON, Del.- Loud rock music irritates Barney Vincelette. He has a form of functioning autism that he says makes him very sensitive to sustained loud noise- the kind of noise he says his neighbors make.

"I've often heard them say, 'Why don't you use earplugs?'" said Vincelette, who lives on Deep Grass Road in Houston. "Well, that's the same thing as if they smeared excrement in your home and said, why don't you wear a clothespin on your nose instead of telling us that we can't smear this in your house?"

So he used his background in electro-magnetism to create machines that jam his neighbors' stereos, creating a loud buzz. Vincelette has also used horns to give neighbors a taste of their own medicine.

That leaves neighbors none too happy.

"I just think it's outrageous," said Jamie Burch, in his own defense. "We try to have family get-togethers, barbecues, and he just gets mad at it."

Dora Burch said it upsets her kids. "They get screaming and crying, and you're wondering what's going on," she said.

Vincelette, though, said it is his right to keep music that he finds offensive out of his house.

"If somebody plays something very badly, and something very ugly, and forces it on someone, it's really a form of rape when you think about it," he said, "to take over someone's home and place in their home something they don't want there."

Kent County's noise ordinance defines "noise disturbance" as any sound that annoys or disturbs a reasonable person of normal sensibilities. It does not allow any loud noise between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. Violations are punishable by fines.