Tehama Municipal Code Art. I General Provisions

For purposes of this chapter, the words set out in this section shall have the following meanings:

A. "Person" shall include the singular and the plural and shall mean and shall include any person, firm, corporation, association, club, partnership, society or any other form of association or organization.

B. "Sound-amplifying equipment" shall mean any machine or device for the amplification of the human voice, music or any other sound. Sound-amplifying equipment shall not be construed as including standard automobile radios when used and heard only by occupants of the vehicle in which installed or warning devices on other vehicles used only for traffic safety purposes.

C. "Sound truck" shall mean any motor vehicle, or horsedrawn vehicle, having mounted thereon, or attached thereto, any sound-amplifying equipment.

(Ord. 299 §1, 1961)

No person shall use, or cause to be used, a sound truck with its sound-amplifying equipment in operation for noncommercial purposes in the unincorporated area of the county before filing a registration statement with the sheriff in writing. The registration statement shall be filed in duplicate and shall state the following:

A. Name and home address of the applicant;

B. Address of place of business of applicant;

C. License number and motor number of the sound truck to be used by applicant;

D. Name and address of person who owns the sound truck;

E. Name and address of person having direct charge of the sound truck;

F. Names and addresses of all persons who will use or operate the sound truck;

G. The purpose for which the sound truck will be used;

H. A general statement as to the section or sections of the county in which the sound truck will be used;

I. The proposed hours of operation of the sound truck;

J. The number of days of proposed operation of the sound truck;

K. A general description of the sound-amplifying equipment which is to be used;

L. The maximum soundproducing power of the sound-amplifying equipment to be used in or on the sound truck. State the following:

1. The wattage to be used,

2. The volume in decibels of the sound which will be produced,

3. The approximate maximum distance for which sound will be thrown from the sound truck.

(Ord. 299 §2(a), 1961)

All persons using or causing to be used, sound trucks for noncommercial purposes shall amend any registration statement filed pursuant to Section 13.04.020 within forty-eight hours after any change in the information therein furnished.

(Ord. 299 §2(b), 1961)

A. The sheriff shall return to each applicant under Section 13.04.020 one copy of said registration statement duly certified by the sheriff as a correct copy of said application.

B. Said certified copy of the application shall be in the possession of any person operating the sound truck at all times while the sound truck's amplifying equipment is in operation and said copy shall be promptly displayed and shown to any law officer of the county or the state upon request.

(Ord. 299 §2(c), 1961)

Noncommercial use of sound trucks in the unincorporated area of the county with sound-amplifying equipment in operation shall be subject to the following regulations:

A. The only sounds permitted are music or human speech.

B. Operations are permitted for four hours each day, except on Sundays and legal holidays when no operations shall be authorized. The permitted four hours of operation shall be between the hours of ten a.m. and twelve noon, and between the hours of four-thirty p.m. and six-thirty p.m.

C. Sound-amplifying equipment shall not be operated unless the sound truck upon which such equipment is mounted is operated at a speed of at least ten miles per hour except when said truck is stopped or impeded by traffic. Where stopped by traffic, the said sound-amplifying equipment shall not be operated for longer than one minute at each such stop.

D. Sound shall not be issued within one hundred yards of hospitals, schools, churches or courthouses.

E. The human speech and music amplified shall not be profane, lewd, indecent or slanderous.

F. The volume of sound shall be controlled so that it will not be audible for a distance in excess of three hundred feet from the sound truck and so that said volume is not unreasonably loud, raucous, jarring, disturbing, or a nuisance to persons within the area of audibility.

G. No sound-amplifying equipment shall be operated with an excess of fifteen watts of power in the last stage of amplification.

(Ord. 299 §2(d), 1961)