Noise polluter has earned quiet time in county jail

Jamar A. Jones, who has been cited six times for violating the city of Youngstown's noise ordinance, says no one in the criminal justice system will give him a break. Jones obviously needs a reality check -- by spending time behind bars. Only then will he understand that breaking the law not once, not twice, but six times carries dire consequences, and that his avoidance thus far of incarceration means he has received huge breaks.
The penalty for a second conviction carries a mandatory $500 fine, up to 60 days in jail and makes the sound equipment subject to forfeiture. A third and subsequent convictions mean up to 60 days in jail, mandatory $600 fine and mandatory forfeiture of the sound equipment.
So, what happened to Jones? In October 2000, he pleaded no contest to a charge of violating the city's noise ordinance and was fined $100 by municipal Judge Robert A. Douglas Jr. He paid the fine. Then last June 18, 20 and 24 and July 31, Jones was cited for blaring his car stereo. In a plea agreement worked out by Anthony J. Farris, an assistant city prosecutor, municipal Judge Elizabeth Kobly dismissed two of the charges and Jones pleaded no contest to the remaining two. Kobly fined him $75 on the first, $500 on the second and gave him 10 days in jail, which she suspended. She also placed him on six months' probation.
Caught in the act
And how did Jones respond to such judicial kindness? Last week, he was cited for turning up the two 15-inch speakers in the trunk of his 1986 Chevrolet Monte Carlo to such a level that two police officers said they heard loud music with heavy bass coming from a minimum distance of 100 feet. The officers gave Jones a citation -- his sixth -- for breaking the law.
At arraignment before Judge Douglas, the habitual scofflaw managed to get released on his own recognizance. A pretrial has been set for Aug. 20.
Yet, the 28-year-old Compton Lane man has the temerity to complain that no one gives him a break. Perhaps all that booming noise emanating from the interior of his car has eroded his brain cells.
Maybe his disregard for the law and his playing havoc with the lives of law-abiding residents of the city is a cry for help. Judge Douglas needs to save Jones from himself. How? By tossing him in jail for the maximum term on this latest charge.
In addition, Jones needs to learn that there is nothing pleasant about being assaulted by mind-numbing, teeth-ratting noise cloaked as music. If only the Constitution would allow the judge to require him to wear headphones through which the sound of a jackhammer could be heard. At the end of his jail stay, Jones would have an appreciation for how his victims feel every time he drives through their neighborhoods, polluting the airwaves and disrupting their lives.