Elkhart noise ordinance gets stiffer

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Posted: 7:08 PM Jul 8, 2008 Elkhart noise ordinance gets stiffer A stiffer city ordinance in Elkhart may be "music" to some people's ears. Monday night the Elkhart city council passed a tougher noise ordinance. Reporter: Stephanie Stang Email Address: stephanie.stang@wndu.com

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A stiffer city ordinance in Elkhart may be "music" to some people's ears.

Monday night the Elkhart city council passed a tougher noise ordinance.

Police will now be able to write tickets with stiffer fines and if they hear a loud noise within 35 feet unlike 50 feet in the past.

Mayor Moore says it is part of a pledge he made when he first took office to make the city cleaner and quieter.

"If you are half a block away and you can hear it.. then that's further than 50 or 35 feet.. that's when you usually stop them," Corporal Frank Owens from the Elkhart Police Department.

"We've written more tickets for noise the first 6 months of this year than we did all of last year. We kind of dropped the ball on it and it's time to get it taken care of," says Mayor Dick Moore of Elkhart.

The Elkhart police officer in charge of the noise ordinance was once part of the I.C.E. unit or county drug task force. But the city no longer participates in the unit. So the officer has been re-assigned.

Fines start at 250-dollars and go up to 25-hundred dollars.

The ordinance goes into effect once the mayor signs it.

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