This is in response to the July 2 article, “Noise ordinance talks raise officials’ volume.”
First, we must go back to an earlier article, “How loud is too loud?” on April 8, on the subject of the current Pike County noise ordinance.
The one business in particular that plays very loud music on the weekends in Magnolia has now capitulated to the point of county officials drafting an entire new noise ordinance proposal. It has now been tabled due to exorbitant costs to the taxpayers of Pike County.
Each county patrol car would have to be equipped with specialized sound-monitoring devices that monitor both actual, emitted sound in decibels, and sound vibrations. This in fact is very expensive equipment, and impractical for any business to become effectively monitored for suspected noise ordinance violations.
I am in total agreement with Supervisor Robert Accardo, who says the current noise ordinance is sufficient.
The question now asked to the public: Do large cities and heavily populated counties in the United State have very large budgets to equip their law enforcement vehicles with very sophisticated sound devices to simply monitor bars and restaurants that have venues for music entertainment?
— James R. O’Brien, Magnolia
