To the editor:
Athens City has a decent noise ordinance, 13.04.10.
First offense is a ticket, second within 6 months is a minor misdemeanor. Persisting after being told to stop is a 4th degree misdemeanor. Additionally many violations fit under the definition of disorderly conduct as well. So the police have plenty of tools to use to preserve the peace.
Unfortunately however they must have been told to not issue tickets, to not escalate the offenses and to more or less let the noisemakers disturb the rest of the town. At least that is what my experience leads me to believe.
Multiple times when the police have responded to my noise complaint the reaction was for the offenders to wait 20 minutes and turn it up again. That should place them in 4th degree misdemeanor territory and then they would think twice before doing it again. In my experience however, they do re-offend and they repeat the process of waiting 20 minutes and doing it again. I doubt these kids are getting appropriately charged is the only conclusion that seems probable.
Start enforcing the laws that we have, whole neighborhoods are suffering.
I can be fairly tolerant, band practice, and certain activities have to be loud. I would not call the cops on you for that. And if you are my neighbor I would talk to you before calling the cops. But note that incidents I am referring to are music being played so loud that I can hear it in my house from 1/3 a mile away. That is a 2 square mile area of sonic assault. I literally have to drive to find the address making the noise.
If the laws were being applied as written by our city council, this level of abuse would not happen. This isn’t one off events or fests. Pretty much twice or more a week for every week since February has been my experience. Taking time to find the location and make the complaint is often something I do not have the time or the energy for, so I just sit at home listening to someone else’s music from 1/3 a mile away and wonder why our town does not enforce the law.
Tom Hanlon
Athens, Ohio