GROVES, Texas — Some people of Groves are voicing their belief in the power of prayer after a noise complaint against the First United Methodist Church Groves has been dropped.
The Groves Municipal Court confirmed with 12News Tuesday that the noise complaint involving the church bells has been dismissed.
Doye Tomplait, a FUMC Groves representative, took to Facebook Tuesday with the help of his daughter to get the word out.
“Let the bells ring. This morning we received paperwork from our lawyer, Jonathan Juhon, and received a call from our City Marshall, that the City Prosecutor has dismissed the case and the City Judge has signed it,” the post said in part.
Although nearby cities such as Port Arthur and Nederland exempt church bells from their noise ordinances, Groves doesn’t. To ensure the church bells will continue to ring throughout the city without consequence, Tomplait said there’s one more official duty that must be done.
“The only thing remaining is for the Groves City Council to include an exemption for church bells in the noise ordinance to stop this from ever happening again,” said Tomplait.
The current noise ordinance in Groves is nearly 40 years old and has never been updated, according to Groves City Manager D.E. Sosa.
The official complaint was made to the Groves Police Department on Oct. 14, 2020 by an unidentified neighbor.
