Silent night, holy night. Well, it is entirely night -- but not silent.
A local retailer has a malfunctioning alarm going off. Again. So loud it can be heard at least a half mile away, if not further.
That business area is surrounded by hundreds of residential homes. If this keeps up as long as it did on Thanksgiving Day, some people won't get any sleep. Nor will the babes in their cribs or the animals.
What may be more alarming is this pulls town resources away from real emergencies. How many police officers or volunteer fire and rescue personnel have to respond, and how long does it take to address it -- if they can?
Multiply it by how frequently this type of false alarm occurs at this business -- and many others scattered around Christiansburg -- then you begin to see why some localities send a bill to these offenders after one false alarm in any calendar year.
Maybe if Christiansburg had a noise ordinance....