Columbus County Community Chat

“If a noise is a nuisance, the person will get a citation,” said Police Lt. Glenda George, “and a nuisance is well-defined in the city code.”

Police are starting a crackdown on noise pollution in accordance with the city ordinances.

The city has a number of rules regarding incessantly barking dogs, loud music on city streets or in homes, and other headache-producers. George said violation of the ordinance can result in a fine.

Anything audible outside of a vehicle or home can be considered a nuisance at any time of day or night, George said, but police use a lot of discretion in enforcing the rules.

“Mowing your yard at 10 in the morning won’t get you a ticket,” she said, “but mowing your yard at 10 at night will. People need to use common sense.”

According to the city code, amplified sounds are not allowed within 300 feet of hospitals, schools, churches, public buildings and nursing homes, or in any other “zone of quiet.”

Loud music or exhaust should only be able to be heard by the people in a vehicle, George explained.

“And that means inside a vehicle,” George said. “Standing in the front yard with the car doors open doesn’t put you inside the vehicle.”

George said the rules aren’t about keeping people from enjoying loud music or other sounds.

“It’s about being a nuisance to other people,” she said. “Anything that intrudes upon your peace and tranquility is a nuisance, and will be dealt with accordingly.”

George said parents can go a long way to helping with the problem by limiting how loud kids turn up the radio in the family car.

“If your children borrow your car and play the radio,” she said, “please tell them not to turn the volume past 03. Much more than that can damage hearing anyway.”

In the wake of last month’s post-football game murder at Lake Waccamaw and the rumored possible retaliation at WHS that following Monday — 70 percent of the students stayed home — Whiteville City Schools Superintendent Dr. Randall Shaver outlined what he plans to do to make the school safer.

Included in that list was the possible banning of book bags.

Last week, it was announced to students that the ban might begin Nov. 1 for WHS as well as Central Middle and Edgewood Elementary schools.

Whiteville Primary School would not be affected.

Other than the announcement, details were sketchy. No one was sure if mesh or clear book bags could be substituted or if the ban would extend to all types of bags, including pocketbooks or purses.

Critics of the ban say that it’s overkill and ask how students will be able to haul 20 or more pounds of books to and from school and from class to class.

Since the murder and retaliation rumor, WHS students have been going through metal detection devices each morning before their first class.

The process is time consuming – nearly 800 students have to be “scanned” and almost as many book bags, pocketbooks, gym bags and band instrument cases have to be visually or physically searched.

WHS Principal John Westberg said the process has gotten faster but still takes a large amount of time in the mornings.

Westberg had no specifics to offer on what the final plan would be. Shaver said that the system had yet to determine what exactly would be banned.

Each school’s school improvement team is working out the details.