Village leaders told of excessive vehicle noise

by Dan McClelland

Underwood Ave. resident Doug Menge first appeared before the town board here on December 8, along with his wife Kayla, to ask town officials’ help in bringing some relief for them and many residents here from loud and very offensive vehicle noise.

Many neighborhoods in past months have been harassed by the presence of loud vehicles- sometimes with illegal mufflers- roaring through them, and sometimes late into the night.

Mr. Menge was directed by town leaders to the village board because the village operates the village police force and so on their advice he appeared on December 21 to address those local leaders.

He told the village lawmakers about his town board appearance, noting it was the first local government meeting he’d ever attended.

“Our discussion that evening was about the excessive vehicle noise in town.”

He said, however, since his town board appearance, there’s been a decrease in the noise from vehicles in his Underwood Road neighborhood. Mr. Menge said some of that reduction can likely be traced to the amount of coverage Publisher Dan McClelland devoted to it in a front-page article in his newspaper on December 14. He said he believed that “was a huge contributor” to eliminating some of the noisy vehicle practices.

“I’ve spoken with a number of Tupper Lake officials including the Tupper Lake police chief and several of his officers about the topic a number of times.”

He said he was not sure how long this improvement in the vehicle noise situation would last- “but that’s all we want...for it to last!”

In speaking with others in the community about the noise, he said that all anyone wants here is some peace and quiet in their neighborhoods.

At the earlier meeting he attended he said he often has to report in the winter months to his state Department of Transportation job here in the early morning hours, and so tries to sleep in the evening. He noted that is routinely interrupted when loud vehicles scream down his street.

“We don’t want any kind of retaliation” against anyone here complaining about this noise.

He said he was not looking for these vehicle drivers to be arrested, but would just like this upsetting practice to stop and for them to show a little courtesy to their neighbors.

“I just want this situation resolved!” he told the village leaders.

He said he’s been told by people who know some of these culprits that these people make other kinds of trouble here, “but I won’t get into that!”

He said the reason he has attended the local government meetings to raise this issue is “I wanted others here who are suffering to know they are not alone here.”

He called it a community-wide issue that must be solved.

Mr. Menge said he would certainly be interested in helping people in other neighborhoods who might be experiencing these same problems and expressed a willingness to return to the board to support them.

Mr. Menge was supported that evening by another resident, Robin Jacobs, who first addressed the village board about the excessive vehicle noise in town six months ago.

“I’ve had it with this also,” she told the village leaders.

“It’s the same trucks doing it all the time...I’ve said that before.”

She asserted that she has seen an uptick in the excessive noise again in recent weeks. She said too she worries about retaliation from some of these people.

“I hear their noise at sometimes 2a.m. or 3a.m. They roar up and down Park Street!”

Councilman Rick Donah, who lives at the corner of Park and Mill, told his colleagues at the earlier town board, excessive noise, particularly in the late night and early morning hours, is a huge problem here.

Trustee David “Haji” Maroun, who lives uptown, said he hears the loud trucks many nights.

“It’s very disturbing at night. You want to have a nice sleep. It’s very loud and it’s very disturbing.”

Ms. Jacobs said she agreed with Mr. Menge it really is a big problem. “I was here six months ago and nothing has changed!”

Asked by Mr. Menge if there has been some improvement in recent weeks since the article was published and she admitted it had. “There’s still a few at 2a.m. or 3a.m. sometimes,” she added.

“It may be because we have no village police presence from 7p.m. to 7a.m.,” she guessed. “-And they know that!”

“I’ve said before that I don’t expect everything to be silent all the time here,” Mr. Menge told the board.

They both said, however, it’s the common practice of vehicles roaring around the community that is troubling.

Mr. Menge mentioned an incident he’d been told that someone’s pet had recently been killed at the park by a reckless driver here.

Mr. Menge said while he’s enjoyed the relative quiet in his neighborhood in recent weeks, he figures there will be a resurgence of the problem soon.

“This is a huge issue. But I don’t think this problem lays solely on the shoulders of the Tupper Lake Police Department. I think this is everyone’s problem.” He said he realizes the police can’t be everywhere, all the time arresting these troublemakers.

He said he favors a community-wide strategy to combat this problem, and an important first step would be town-wide communication.

Promoting a civil dialogue here- and even including the views of some of the violators- would be a most welcome tool in improving things here. He said he and others here would like to know why these people think they need to squeal their tires and roar their engines while driving through town. “Do they have problems with our town? Is this their way of somehow retaliating against it? Is there some way we can help them resolve how they feel?”

A public meeting where everyone would be welcome to attend to discuss this problem might be very helpful too, he thought.

He told the village officials that local teenagers are very aware of this problem “and it’s affecting them too.”

This reckless and inconsiderate driving sets a very bad example for new drivers here, he added.

“I don’t want to be the face of this problem and I definitely don’t want to be a martyr. But I just want a resolution to this!”

Mayor Paul Maroun told Mr. Menge that he appreciated him raising the issue. “It’s something we talked about over the years!”

He said “from the enforcement side” of the problem, the village would first have to pass a noise or what he called “a decibel law.”

“The chief and I have talked about it a number of times. There’s a new state law on the books that a person cannot amend an exhaust system on a vehicle.”

He said if a community adopts a noise or decibel law it would also cover motorcycles. It just can’t be spot enforced” to curb truck noise.

The mayor admitted he’s heard many complaints about loud vehicle noise and he’s often heard it himself at a house he owns on Wawbeek Ave.

He said he hoped the owners of these potentially loud vehicles would try to be considerate of their fellow residents “however, they don’t always think that way!”

Mr. Menge said there are owners of specially equipped vehicles here who are very considerate about how they operate them.

“I’m not angry or upset at the people making this noise, but I am disturbed by it as are the members of my family.”

He said the recent article in the Free Press helped to a great degree, at least in his neighborhood.

“Well, Danny is a great communicator;” there’s no doubt about that, Mr. Maroun told him.

The mayor also told Mr. Menge and Ms. Jacobs the village would try several public relations things in the weeks ahead to ask these noisy drivers to be considerate of their neighbors here.

“But I’m going to tell you my experience: they are not going to change!” He held out the hope, however that “maybe some common decency will prevail.”

Chief Eric Proulx said the recent change to the faulty muffler law just involved increasing the fines.