Lärmbelästigung - the more things change, the more they remain the same...
And so it goes...
Richard 
In Germany, A Range Too Close For Comfort
S&S, 3 June 2012
The mayors are angry and so are their constituents.
After years of back-and-forth talk with the U.S. military over
noise levels at the firing ranges in Böblingen, residents have a message for the Army:
Stifle the sound or train someplace else.
“I’m running out of patience,” said Christine Kraayvanger, mayor of Böblingen, which hosts the U.S. Army’s Panzer Kaserne and the eight acres of shooting ranges where U.S. special operators prepare for America’s wars.
The range, about three football fields’ distance from a residential neighborhood, has irritated residents for years. Now, nearly three years after an Army-funded noise study found that the sound was indeed excessive, politicians and residents want to see more action.
“Everybody agrees it’s too noisy. It sounds like you are on a battlefield,” said Eberhard Knobloch, a retired Böblingen resident. “The answer we always get is, ‘Our soldiers have to practice.’ And we have to suffer.”
Residents want the Army to pay to renovate the entire Böblingen Land Training Area’s firing ranges with noise abating barriers, not just a portion as the Army has done so far.
The steady crackle of
gunfire can be heard almost daily 
around the neighborhood of Rauher Kapf, home to about 1,500 people, a small kindergarten and a health clinic.
Kraayvanger said Böblingen established a special committee in response to demands from upset residents, but local officials say efforts to pressure the Army have failed to yield sufficient improvements.
The Army says it dealt with some noise concerns while making other improvements to the ranges. However, noise abatement wasn’t the prime motive.
(Cont'd)
http://www.stripes.com/news/in-germa...WX0pU.facebook