Proposed noise ordinance would not include firearms
By Steve Herring
Published in News on October 9, 2016 1:45 AM
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Wayne County Attorney Borden Parker, foreground, looks over proposed changes to the county's noise ordinance Tuesday morning as County Manager George Wood updates commissioners on the issue.
Shoot, shout or shhh.
Wayne County residents will have a chance to speak up about the things that disturb their silence later this month as the county works to replace its current vague, three-paragraph, and basically unenforceable, noise ordinance.
Gunfire gets a pass in the proposal, but loud, unruly birds or animals do not, nor do loud radios or televisions.
Farmers also get an exception in the proposal on the use of noise-producing crop protection devices during certain times of the day as do sports fans whooping it up at an athletic event.
But it would be unlawful for any person to use "loud language to curse, swear, or make vulgar, or racial remarks in a violent or offensive manner while attending" those events.
A public hearing on the revamped noise ordinance will be held at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, during the Wayne County commissioners' meeting.
It will be held in the commissioners' meeting room on the fourth floor of the Wayne County Courthouse Annex.
The ordinance would apply only to areas outside the city limits of any of the county's municipalities. It would be enforced by the Sheriff's Office.
"I may have missed it, but I don't see anything in here about the discharge of firearms in residential areas, which causes noise," Commissioner Ray Mayo said during the board's Tuesday morning work session on the proposal. "I would sort of like to know how that is covered.
"The issue I have in my district, because a lot of it is rural, is people are able to shoot their firearms wherever they like, even in their own yard as long as they don't hit anyone or cause property damage."
Mayo said it is not unusual where he lives on Vail Road, Pikeville, to hear shots all during the day and sometimes at night.
Sometimes they even sound like military rifles, he said.
"How does this cover this situation?" he said.
Chairman Joe Daughtery said the ordinance does not address discharging firearms.
"We are only concerning ourselves with noise in regards to the noise ordinance in that it excluded 'discharge of firearms or other methods utilized in the lawful activity of target shooting, hunting or taking of wildlife on private property,'" he said. "So as far as the noise goes, it is exempt.
"What you are speaking of is another issue in regards to discharge of firearms going out of your property onto somebody else's property."
That may be addressed later, he said.
"There is a state statute that addresses that if you create problems offsite" County Manager George Wood said. "In other words, if you are practicing with a rifle that has a greater travel distance and goes offsite and injures somebody, there are statutes against that is my understanding.
"I would be very cautious about trying to regulate anything dealing with firearms. I think there is a provision already in state law about that."
Mayo asked if there was anyone locally who could enforce the state provision.
Mayo said he knows of incidents of people being in their back yard with their grandchildren on a Sunday afternoon then "all of a sudden, bullets come flying across your yard."
"This is unacceptable, and the previous sheriff, before he passed away, said that there was nothing that he could do about it," Mayo said. "If there is a state statute, I want to know who has the authority to enforce it in our county."
The sheriff has the authority, Wood said.
"But let's have (County Attorney) Borden (Parker) research that," Wood said.
Daughtery agreed.
County Planner Chip Crumpler said he also would contact state wildlife officials.
Daughtery said that the proposal is the outgrowth of a working group that reviewed some of the county ordinances.
Bob Jackson was chairman of the group that included Daughtery, Commissioner Bill Pate, Wood, Crumpler, Inspections Department Director Steve Stroud, Planning Board member Chris Cox and Steve L. Herring.
"Our goals were to review some of our ordinances," Daughtery said. "Some of these ordinances go back to the '70s when they were first implemented, and they just could not be enforced the way that they were written -- specifically the noise ordinance was one of those.
"The goal of the working group was to review them, compare them to what other counties have done, and how we could actually have them worded in a more modernistic and better light. It never was the intention of the working group to add additional regulations in any way, but in fact to have something that was acceptable not only to this board, but also to our citizens. It had to be workable, and it had to be enforceable."
Daughtery said proposed revisions to the noise ordinance were sent to Parker, District Attorney Matt Delbridge and the Sheriff's Office for review and comments.
"Revisions were made based upon those recommendations," Daughtery said. "We are at the stage now to present it to this board for your consideration."
The proposal also was sent to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base for review, Crumpler said. The county is still waiting for a response from the base, but that is expected soon, he said.
Crumpler said he is not expecting any drastic changes other than when base officials talk about military operations and their aircraft.
"There may be some change in wording there," he said.
The original ordinance, adopted in 1995, is "very vague and not really enforceable," Crumpler said.
"What we have done is clarified some of these issues that we had with the original ordinance, and we put in some additional language," he said. "Those items that we addressed, legal language, were clarified. What we were prohibiting was clarified and defined. Exceptions to the noise ordinance were listed. Permissible noise level limits were addressed and the methods of how we would measure these noise levels, the complaint procedure, penalties and definitions."
Daughtery said there had been discussions with area farmers about the use of noise-making devices to scare animals away from crops.
The provision prohibiting the use of the devices between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. was a "good" compromise.
Also prohibited is the use of the devices within 500 feet of a residential structure, church, school or day care. The devices also must be pointed in a direction away from structures.