Blacksburg Town Council has increased the penalty for noise ordance violations: it’s gone from a class 4 misdemeanor to a class 2, which is the difference between a $250 and a $1,000 fine, with the possibility of up to a year in jail. The relevant bit from the ordinance:
Section 13-303
[T]he following act…is declared to be a noise ordinance: Operating, playing or permitting the operation or playing of any radio, television, record, tape or compact disc player, drum, musical instrument, or similar device [i]n such a manner as to permit sound to be heard across a residential real property boundary or through partitions common to two dwelling units within a building….
This applies nicely to my situation. Predictably, the (Virginia Tech) Collegiate Times story quotes a clueless freshman, who objects to change, declaring that Blacksburg is “a college town.” I intend to print out a copy of the article and tuck it under my neighbor’s door, just in case she doesn’t hate me enough already.