The University of Idaho Argonaut

Many students don’t agree with it, but the Moscow City Council voted to adopt a new noise ordinance Tuesday.

Police can now act as the complainant for noise violations in Moscow. This means that no neighbor has to complain before they can come knocking at your door.

Whether you agree or disagree on the noise ordinance issue, the fact is that it has been adopted by the city. There is no reason for things to get out of control or there to be more citations issued to students.

The simple solution and way to stay out of trouble is to have self-control. Recognize when a party is getting out of hand or music is playing too loud.

Some people like to stay up late partying on a Wednesday night and others don’t, so be courteous to those around you.

Students like to blame non-students in town for being grumpy and complaining about the noise, but they have just as much right to live in peace as students do.

If no one had a noise problem then this issue would not be on the table. Being in college does not mean a free pass to be as loud and crazy as possible. Part of the college experience is learning how to be a responsible adult and that means controlling your own noise level.

Now all of the responsibility is not on noisy students. Police can’t take their new power to act as the complainant too far. But they can be the voice for all those neighbors who aren’t comfortable going to the police and that’s great.

Assistant Chief of Police for the Moscow Police Department said that officers are trained to educate before they cite people for violations, so the ordinance being passed does not mean that the police will go around wildly citing for everything they hear.

So just be quiet between 10 p.m. and 7 p.m. Have some respect for neighbors and grow up a little.
Do this and the new noise ordinance should not be a problem.