North Myrtle Beach moves to limit businesses playing music with obscene, vulgar lyrics
North Myrtle Beach is one step away from turning down the volume on what it considers obscene and vulgar music.
City council passed a first reading Monday to amend its noise ordinance to impose a maximum decibel level, based on the time of day, at which “obscene, vulgar and/or profane lyrics can be played.”
The proposal comes after city staff and elected officials received numerous complaints regarding what many consider to be obscene and vulgar lyrics coming from a business on Main Street, where some passersby accompanied by their underage children and grandchildren could hear, according to the request submitted to council.
Councilwoman Nikki Fontanta told WPDE that they’ve been getting an influx of complaints recently.
““I’ve personally had a couple of emails in the last month or so, month and a half, from visitors, people who have been coming here for 25, 30 years to North Myrtle Beach to visit,” she told the news station. “And they’re encountering this with their grandkids.”
The amended ordinance would prohibit the use of sound equipment within city limits to broadcast obscene, profane or vulgar language in excess of 30 decibels from 7:01 a.m.-10:59 p.m. and 50 decibels from 11 p.m.-7 a.m., the proposal states.
The city defines obscene as a description of sexual conduct that is objectionable or offensive to accepted standards of decency which the average person, applying North Myrtle Beach community standards would find” or material which describes “in a patently offensive way” sexual conduct or genitalia that lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.
Profane means to treat with irreverence or contempt crude, filthy, dirty, smutty or indecent, while vulgar means making explicit and offensive reference to sex, genitalia or bodily functions, according to the city’s definitions.
Anyone who violates the city’s noise ordinance can be cited and/or arrested with a fine up to $1,000, according to previous Sun News reporting.
The city recognizes in its proposal that music with these lyrics may be protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, but it hopes this amendment strikes a balance between protecting children and non-consenting adults from hearing music “inconsistent with the City’s identity as a family friendly and family oriented location” and allowing those who wish to listen to do so.
City spokesman Patrick Dowling told The Sun News that no member of the public rose to comment or ask questions about the proposal during Monday’s meeting.
A second and final reading is scheduled for council’s October 4 meeting and, while second readings aren’t technically public hearings, Dowling noted that Mayor Marilyn Hatley always invites comments from the public, and members of the public can send comments or questions to him at pcdowling@nmb.us.
