A rock band called Awaken the Dead makes so much noise the neighbors complain? What a shock:
KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) - Members of a rock band are keeping up a fight to practice at their home despite a central Indiana city's 24-hour-a-day noise ordinance.
Awaken the Dead band members became entangled in the issue after being ticketed by police about 1 p.m. Feb. 18 following a complaint about the volume of their music from a neighbor who was trying to sleep after working a midnight shift.
Kokomo city attorney Lawrence McCormack said Wednesday that ticket would be waived, but that didn't satisfy bass player Justin Clark, the Kokomo Tribune reported .
Much is being made of the noise ordinance's 24-hour coverage and the fact that most such ordinances are applied only during late-night and early-morning sleeping hours. But another problem with the ordinance is its lack of an objective standards. To be in violation, noise must be "plainly audible," and it's up to the cops to make a judgment call on that. Pretty typical, though. Fort Wayne's ordinance forbids "any loud, raucous, improper, unreasonable, offensive or unusual noise, disorder or tumult, which disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of others within the city, or to permit such noise, disorder or tumult to be made in or about his/her house or premises, and the same is hereby declared to be a public nuisance."
Ours doesn't really get into times, either. So be quiet out there all the time, OK?
