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Isn’t it time we remind some of the careless public that there are litter laws and they CAN be enforced? Here are Ohio’s laws as posted on ODNR’s website.

Ohio Litter Laws

Under Ohio law, litter is any trash thrown, discarded or dropped by a person onto public property, private property not owned by the individual, or into Ohio’s waterways. The Ohio Revised Code prohibits littering, regardless of whether or not it was intentional. Numerous laws prohibit littering and illegal dumping.

Littering is a serious offense, punishable by fines of up to $500 and 60 days in jail. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) is committed to keeping Ohio clean and beautiful.

There are many kinds of littering offenses; the following is a brief overview of Ohio’s major litter laws.

Littering and Illegal Dumping

ORC 3767.32

Dumping waste, such as discarded trash, oil, appliances, scrap tires, furniture and other items, on private or public land and waterways is strictly prohibited by Ohio law. In addition to being unsightly, illegal dumps can pose health and safety hazards to people and wildlife. Ohioans must use licensed disposal facilities and insist that contracted waste haulers dispose of trash safely and legally.

ORC 3767.32 also prohibits unauthorized persons from knowingly placing litter and household wastes in a private litter/trash receptacle, unless he or she has authorization to use the litter/trash receptacle or the waste materials were generated on the public property where the receptacle is located. This protects property owners from having to pay for wastes illegally dumped into their litter/trash receptacles.

 

Littering from a Motor Vehicle

ORC 4511.82

Littering from a motor vehicle can result in fines of up to $100, depending upon the seriousness of the offense. For casual littering from motor vehicles, law enforcement officers can issue tickets, just as they do for other traffic violations. The driver of a motor vehicle can also be held responsible for litter discarded onto the roadway by passengers.

Littering from a Watercraft Vessel

ORC 1547.49

This law is similar to littering from a motor vehicle law. No operator or occupant of a vessel, regardless of intent, may discard or deposit litter in any Ohio waters. The operator of a watercraft vessel can also be held responsible for allowing litter to be dropped out of the vessel.

Unsecured Load

ORC 4513.31

This law requires vehicles transporting materials that could escape, leak or drop be designed to remain inside the vehicle at all times. In addition, vehicles loaded with garbage, solid waste or other unsanitary materials that are susceptible to blowing or bouncing out, cannot be driven unless their contents are sufficiently covered. Law enforcement officers do not have to witness the material falling from a vehicle in order to make an arrest. Exceptions to this law include farm vehicles transporting agricultural products and trash vehicles in the process of acquiring their loads.

IDEA: Illegal Dumping Economic Assessment

The Illegal Dumping Economic Assessment (IDEA) model was developed by the U.S. EPA, Region 5, to provide community leaders with a tool for assessing and measuring costs of illegal dumping activities. Use of the model can be a first step in quantifying such costs, thereby supporting cost management and policy-making decisions associated with illegal dumping prevention programs.

The IDEA model is easy to use and comes with a user’s guide and provides general instructions and helpful tips for using the model to assess illegal dump site costs.

For more information, go to the U.S. EPA website: http://www.epa.gov/region5/illegaldumping/

 

Photo: Sunset at Kelly’s Island, Ohio

 

 

Posted by Angry Man In The Basement at 8:01 PM

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About Northern Sun

Please see Contact Us if you have questions.

A short history of Northern Sun

Northern Sun got its start back in 1979, right before radiation started leaking from the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Harrisburg, PA (March 28, 1979). Riding a bicycle and carrying a backpack full of tshirts, etc., Scott (the owner) began selling message-oriented items at anti-nuke events. In 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected President. Reagan’s pro-war policies created a big demand for anti-war merchandise. We have been (slowly) growing ever since.

alt=”Northern Sun T-Shirts, Stickers, Buttons, Plaques, Magnets, Mugs, Posters” />

There is a prevailing myth which has floated around for years that suggests that economic growth without limits will always bring prosperity. In the case of the typical land development that often includes the many big box retail and restaurant chains, we clearly learn how the old myth we were taught to believe all these years, is just that–a myth! Tune in to this website to learn why. This is a great discussion topic for community radio and one I am sure will be discussed as I develop my online station.

http://www.sprawl-busters.com/caseagainstsprawl.html

 

Stay tuned for my new online radio station available soon on the “You-Broadcast” List! This station will feature general talk about community quality of life issues, the environment, pets to politics, and other topics. There will also be music spanning various types such as Classic Soul and R&B, Easy Listening, Classic Rock, Alternative, Show Tunes, World Beat and others…..spanning the 30’s to today! Recorded old time radio shows as well as discussion about topics of community interest will be included as well. I welcome your contributions and ideas. If you have something of public/community interest, non-copyrighted please contact me and we can discuss getting it on the air. I will also be selling ad space. Tired of hearing the same beat up opinions on the mainstream shows? Then come join us! I am trying to think of a name…If you have ideas, send me a note! I am thinking about calling it WCTR-68 (World Community Talk Radio)

Photo: Winter sky as seen from Edgewater Park bluff, Cleveland.

Here is the link to the discussion about Boom Car noise as I promised in a previous post. You can click where you see “Robert Carillio interviews Judy Ellis” Judy is an authority on successful dealing with many types of noise pollution in her community. She has helped others as well, coast to coast.

http://www.lowertheboom.org/news.htm

Excessive and unnecessary noise is often the number one complaint police departments receive on a daily and nightly basis in communities of all sizes all across the nation. In fact, there is little escaping acoustic assault these days no matter where you move—and noise, is among the top reasons people move out of any given area, city, suburb, or rural.

To learn more about the ill health impacts of noise pollution on your communities quality of life, property value, and even personal physical health, visit the following web sites to learn more. Drop me a line if you have a noise problem you cannot seen to do anything about and I will answer you personally with ideas on how to mitigate the problem.

I will also be posting a 24 minute talk radio style discussion about Boom Car noise pollution as a bonus. You may download this discussion and make copies of it for educational uses in dealing with this particular kind of noise pollution in your community. To learn about why this is a particularly dangerous kind of noise, or just exactly what a “Boom Car” is, see Lower The Boom Dot Org listed below.

http://www.noiseoff.org/

http://www.lowertheboom.org/

http://www.noisefree.org/

Noise Free America – Ohio Chapter

September 5, 2007

Advanced Custom Sound
1894 Elm Road N.E.
Warren, Ohio 44483

Dear Sir or Madam:

Noise Free Ohio is a chapter of Noise Free America, a national non-profit organization devoted to restoring peace and quiet to our neighborhoods. We were somewhat appalled to read about the recent coverage your businesses had in a recent Tribune article, written by Larry Ringler in the spring of 07, with tones of praising such businesses like yours, as though they are providing some kind of valuable service to the community.

Larry Ringler was also written a response from our national group, as well as our affiliate organizations regarding that article. While it may be true that you may feel that your customers have a “choice” about how they listen to their noise, what many businesses such as yours fail to recognize is that at the same time these thoughtless and selfish people are depriving the rest of us, of the choice NOT to listen to it.

Many of the products you sell and install are creating a national health crisis and I write to enlighten you about some of the damage you are doing to persons, property and communities.

Please read on:-

First, at an increasing rate, cities across the nation are passing or strengthening noise ordinances, and the sad truth is, the people who buy these audio weapons are bringing these new laws on themselves. They know the moment they buy and install your equipment, they are going to be:
Breaking the Law
Annoying the Public
Creating a dangerous highway situation for emergency workers whose sirens cannot be heard
Waking people who have to work nights and sleep days (as well as the rest of us who try to sleep at night in cities plagued by these weapons).
Ruining their own hearing and that of their passengers
Damaging the brains of small children trapped in their car seats only inches away from the speakers
Destroying property values
Take a moment to educate yourself about what loud noise does to a human body – both the noisemaker and his victims.

Make a note every time you sell one of these subwoofers, or an entire trunk load of them, that the 10% of the population, myself included, suffer real health damage from the combination of high decibels and low frequency vibrations. We suffer chest pain, stomach pain, headaches, rapid heart rate, sweating and/or nausea. Elevated blood pressure, and worst of all, instant and involuntary aggression brought on by a rush of adrenaline. Not healthy in the least. Medically speaking, this is not endemic to just an elderly population, it can and does happen in all age groups.

In large cities, one car in four stopped for booming produces a wanted criminal, an illegal weapon, drugs or all three. Booming is often a form of drug advertising. The Police in most large Cities know this. The excuse that this is a healthy hobby or an alternative to drugs for kids, as commonly touted by those associated with your kind of industry, is a lie and nothing more. Installing equipment that has no other purpose except to disturb, defy, damage, ignite and destroy (the words used by the manufactures themselves) is not a hobby. It is an act of defiance of the law, it is antisocial, it has no socially redeeming value.

If you are not warning the “kids” or adults who spend their money on these subwoofers, that using them at full blast is illegal and that they can be fined, you are not only assisting in the commission of a crime, you are yourself being socially irresponsible. The audibility requirement in the Florida state law for citing a specific example of this issue was reduced in July 2005 from 100’ to 25’, resulting in a doubling of the tickets written. This law was fought for by a SWAT team commander with the Orange County (Orlando) sheriff’s office – he feared for the lives of his deputies because their sirens could not be heard over the din on the highways and at traffic lights.

Warren, Ohio has a limit of 50 feet, meaning that noise should not be audible within 50 feet. Often it can be heard from blocks away. Current activity in City Council is addressing possible target enforcement of this law which your patrons behavior brought upon themselves because of the growing number of fed up law abiding, peaceful tax paying residents. Our city’s noise ordinance addressing this issue is in effect 24 hours a day, and I have included a copy of it for your convenience. Perhaps the responsible thing to do would be to hand out copies of it to your customers if you are going to continue to sell these noise weapons.

Just for enlightenment on this issue, here is what other Cities and States are doing to quiet this plague:

– No noise audible at 10 feet.
– No noise that can be heard from the car at all.
– Initial fines of $500, $1,000, $1,500. In one little town in New Jersey……….$3,000
– Jail time – 30-90 days.
– Suspension of car tag or driver’s license (or both) – 30-90 days.

The next time you sell an expensive mess of subwoofers to someone, ask yourself what he is going to do with it and then ask yourself if you can go to bed at night with a clear conscience. Better yet, go visit one or more of these web sites and educate yourself about he way you are earning a living:
www.nonoise.org
www.lowertheboom.org
www.noiseoff.org

You may be surprised at what you learn!

By the way, stiff fines, impoundment, confiscation and jail time DO make a difference. Even your customers would probably grow weary of paying $750 and having their car towed every time they are caught.

Finally, in the United Arab Emirates, one of the countries to which we selfish and greedy Americans export this dangerous practice to, their law simply states the first time you are caught booming, the authorities take away your car. This is how one official put it “if you are so stupid to think that this is the purpose of owning an automobile, you don’t deserve to have one”. In The United Kingdom, allowing noise to resonate from vehicles and invade other people’s right to peace in their own homes is an act seen as it should be seen; “Anti-Social and Irresponsible Behaviour” You may be asked to remove yourself from the neighborhood without permission to return.

Acting as such and breaking laws is not a freedom here in the US — nor anywhere through the eyes of 99% of the thinking rational world. Do us all a favor and please take some social responsibility for yourselves and your customers. If you react to this letter with an “I will do what the “bleep” I want… and I don’t care how it hurts anyone else” attitude, then this only reaffirms our belief that we need to work harder with local law enforcement to nail down on this already illegal in-your-face behavior.

Sincerely
R.S. Scott
Noise Free America – Ohio Chapter
www.noisefree.org
www.noiseoff.org

cc: Warren Police Chief, John Mandopoulos
cc: Warren City Safety Director, William Franklin
cc: Warren City Mayor, Michael O’Brien

 

 

Here are some links which feature various articles I have written or contributed to about my interest in native fishes.

http://www.farmertodd.com/NANFA/101202/

http://jonahsaquarium.com/nanfa/2002%2D11%2D05ohio/index.html

http://jonahsaquarium.com/JonahSite/nanfa/OHReg5-6-2000/1-OHReg5-6-2000.htm

To my surprise, there is actually a website which features malls all across the country, that struggle to remain fully occupied. You can click here http://www.deadmalls.com/ to stroll down memory lane with your favorite shopping venue as you may have grown up with in the 60’s, 70’s or 80’s.

In Greater Cleveland, the concept of the new style “big modern malls” featuring retail stores, banks, recreation, and other uses, all under one roof, blossomed in the late 1950’s and hit a peak in the early 1970’s — so as my personal observation and experience shows me. Several downtown retailers could not resist the allure of a brand new facility with plenty of parking, as inner city retail districts were aging and often not meeting the demands of a new auto-dependent consumer base as trains and public transportation became the secondary means of getting around. Aging retail space base, crime, inadequate parking were all contributors of this flight of retail from the core.

But today, many of the original malls that killed the inner city retail base, have now themselves become victims of even further suburban sprawl—-Many will call this out-migration of business phenomenon poorly planned urban growth and management. There are other driving forces for sprawl, but forces such as tax abatements are a story alone.

Nevertheless, there is now a re-discovery of the older inner urban retail infrastructure as many buildings and streets in downtown Cleveland, for example, are undergoing a slow, but steady revitalization. Still, this brings us back to the aging “first malls club”– and I shudder to think that many of these retail behemoths could someday sit deserted amidst a vast sea of pavement which simply contributes to dirty stormwater runoff to our rivers and streams, also another story alone! With that in mind, I was inspired to dream up a new adaptive re-use of these malls as more than just retail alone.

I was a longtime patron of Randall Park Mall in Cleveland (Warrensville/North Randall) built in 1976. I remember when this crown jewel double decker mall opened and few people had ever seen anything quite like it. Huge anchor stores like Higbee’s, cascading fountains, red carpeted catwalks and ramps, theaters, and the list goes on.

Today, the mall is still a nice place to visit but nothing like it was when it first popped into the retail scene. I actually felt sorry for the place and so I offer some ideas on future uses for Malls like Randall Park, which struggle because of what I see, as an over production of retail space in North east Ohio among other factors.

I think malls as such can be great places not only for what, for example, the Randall Park mall is now, but for future “indoor neighborhoods” with trendy apartments, retail, post, groceries, fresh fruit and veggie and bakery markets, entertainment, all necessities for living, under one roof—maybe even a school or recreation center. Essentially, an “indoor complete neighborhood.”

This is what they were in terms of just shopping in the past, BUT, adding social amenities like high quality living addresses, will see such a place transfer into a whole neighborhood and city under one roof. Huge areas where anchor tenants once stood, can be creatively divided into apartments, condominiums, with indoor atriums, pools and recreation/fitness facilities with skylights and courtyards. Then, rents could be collected from several sources, rather than one entity such as a large anchor retailer as in the past. Such a facility could be a national example of creativity and brilliant adaptive re-use! Good for North Randall.. Good for Greater Cleveland etc.

If marketed properly, all the above would be great for those who do not wish to rely on cars, or those who wish to reduce dependency on oil. I think this idea could really help revitalize the inner older suburban areas. I feel this may be the future of older but great malls like Randall. What are your thoughts?