Avoyelles moves to bar after-hours clubs

The Avoyelles Parish Police Jury has put in place two new ordinances for club hours.
The goal of the new ordinances is to stop a club outside of Marksville which does not serve alcohol from staying open after 2 a.m. Bars serving alcohol are already required to close at 2 a.m. as part of the liquor license rules.
So officials redesigned existing noise laws as the method to curtail the club’s hours since it did not have to follow the same laws as a business which sells alcohol.
“We have met our responsibility now,” Jones continued. “It is now up to the sheriff to enforce the new ordinance and the district attorney to prosecute the violators. People outside a municipality have a right to peace and quiet.”
Only one couple attended the public hearing. They asked about how the existing laws in the new ordinance pertains to the issue of animals making noise that are disturbing the peace and how the law is enforced.
Assistant District Attorney Norris Greenhouse said it is up to the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office to decide if ordinances are being violated, especially the noise ordinance. Instead of using a decibel meter to determine if there is too much noise, Greenhouse said it will be left up to the law enforcement officer. The use of a decibel meter was purposely left out of the new ordinance.
In the past, Jones said he was getting numerous complaints from residents surrounding the club in question. Jones said he had heard complaints of loud music, squealing car tires and even gunshots. He said while liquor is not being sold, it is still being brought into the business.
Jurors were concerned the new ordinances could cause problems for farmers or others using noise to try to scare off animals from damaging crops or property. Bunkie Juror John Earles questioned if a farmer could be charged under the new ordinance for using butane guns to scare off wild hogs, ducks, birds and other wildlife which damage crops. He said those devices are used late at night and go off every few minutes.
Greenhouse said unless it was close to a house and “rattled windows” every time it went off, he didn’t think it would be a problem. He said a distant “boom” from the device shouldn’t be a concern.
“This is a start with the adoption of the new ordinance,” Jones said as the discussion wrapped up. “We may have to go back and re-visit this ordinance if we find a problem.”
The first ordinance states, “All lounges, saloons, music halls, grog shops, dance halls, discos, taverns, road houses, honky tonks, or places where intoxicating liquors are sold, or public dancing conducted or permitted, located outside the corporate limits of any municipality in the parish and located within 1/2 mile of the limits of any area which is, has been, or may be subdivided into lots which are re-used for residential purposes only, shall be closed between the hours of 2 a.m. and 5 a.m.”
The second ordinance states, “It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation conducting any public place or business to operate therein or in connection therewith any radios, loudspeakers, amplifying devices or any other such things of a similar nature in a manner calculated to disturb the inhabitants of the vicinity. It will be unlawful to operate such devices after 11 p.m. where the amplification is thrown to the area surrounding a public place.”
The issue of setting these new ordinances first came before the Police Jury at its September 10 meeting. Jurors discussed a business which was a former lounge, just north of Marksville, which stayed open well after 2 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Dreamz, the business in question, is located on La. Highway One.
District Attorney Charles Riddle said Dreamz does not have a liquor license so before the new ordinances it did not have to close at 2 a.m. Riddle told the jury that Dreamz charges a $10 admission or “party fee” to enter the establishment and a disc jockey plays music sometimes until 5 or 6 a.m.
“This ordinance now closes that loophole,” Jones told the other jury members at the public hearing. “This is in our best interest and helps protect the young people of the parish.”
Businesses violating the new ordinance can be fined from $100 to $500 or imprisonment not less than 15 days or more than 30 days or both. The fines first set for the new ordinance were between $500 to $1,000, but Jones felt the fine was reasonable at $100 to $500 to which the jury members agreed.