This is absurd and yet another example of jails and prisons overcrowded with nonviolent offenders whose wrongs really don't merit incarceration to begin with.
I seriously doubt McGill, of his own volition, went in to work extra early, fired up a garbage truck and went out during a restricted time. Some supervisor probably overlooked the restriction and sent this man out earlier than authorized. The article says he was a "new" employee which means he likely wouldn't have known better and certainly wouldn't have been in a position to contradict his managers. The company should be getting fined. And if the vengeful people of Georgia absolutely must throw someone in jail, why not the man's supervisor or whoever is highest up on the chain of command?
Furthermore, the fact that an upscale neighborhood won't allow trash collection before 7 am because they don't want to be woken up just feeds into the stereotypes about Southerners - including rich Southerners - being lazy. If you're an adult in a professional or managerial job and you're still in bed at 7 am, you probably don't deserve whatever salary you're being paid. The hedge fund managers in Manhattan have been up since before 6. How fitting that the descendants of slaveowners down in Dixie are taking a cue from their ancestors and sleeping in while the darkies outside do all the work.
If he was ordered to go out and work earlier than was legally allowed, his first move would have been to offer to sell his employers down the river.
Noise ordinances aren't unreasonable, and I doubt the neighborhood cared what his skin tone was when they called the police for waking them up earlier than he was allowed to. This isn't their fault at all. It's the fault of the prosecutor, who seems like a grandstanding asshole by going for the max. You're absolutely right that this sums up the problem with clogging up our jails with non-violent offenders. There's no way a first-time noise ordinance violation should result in anything but a fine.
