ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 2, 1996 TAG: 9612020076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE BOOM, BOOM, BOOM motorists hear at the stoplights could be curtailed.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Nope. It's Jimmy Sipe's car stereo.
The 19-year-old Charlottesville resident owns a blue 1980 Toyota Celica GT with a stereo that can pump out 150 decibels - roughly equivalent to the noise of a jet plane taking off.
People like Sipe - whose stereo is worth around $4,500 - are moving Charlottesville officials to change the city's noise ordinance. That ordinance was created to curb loud college parties - not mobile decibel factories.
Charlottesville City Manager Gary O'Connell said his staff is working on a proposal to revamp the noise ordinance, now dependent on meters and decibel readings.
``It works pretty well if it's coming out of a house,'' O'Connell said. But when it comes to loud cars ``the noise meter thing doesn't work on that at all.''
The city is looking at noise ordinances in Virginia Beach as well as Newport News for guidance. Virginia Beach police often deal with tourists who come to the beach equipped with mammoth sound systems.
The current ordinance requires sound meter equipment to be certified and tested. Police have to be standing on the property line in order to take a reading.
O'Connell expects his staff to submit a noise-ordinance proposal to City Council within six months.
Dr. George Hashisaki, an ear, nose and throat physician at the University of Virginia Medical Center, said those who have the loud car stereos may be in for problems later.
Hashisaki compares the popularity of the sound systems to smoking. The side effects aren't immediately noticeable.
``We'll see five years, 10 years down the line people who had these systems come in and say, `Gee, I have a hard time hearing,''' he said.
LENGTH: Short : 44 linesby CNB