A woman says a young driver's tendency to pump up the volume has hurt her health. He'd like the lawsuit to go away.
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published November 21, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - Judy Ellis says she is a victim of "audio terrorism" and wants to lower the boom. Of a particular teen's car stereo, that is.
The Lakewood Estates woman, who would also like to stifle loud leaf blowers and has teamed up with antinoise folks across the nation, now is after the blasting, throbbing music of a vehicle and its owner she says are terrorizing her neighborhood.
Last week, Mrs. Ellis, 63, filed a lawsuit against 18-year-old Ryan Jennings in a bid to quiet his music and get monetary damages. He was served late Friday afternoon.
Drastic as her action might seem, Mrs. Ellis says she had no choice.
"Somebody has to make this kid understand that his behavior is socially unacceptable. It is not neighborly," she said.
"I hate to do this, but what recourse do I have to stop him from forcing his painful noise on me? I get a pain in my chest when the noise gets close to my house. I feel it in my chest before I hear it," said Mrs. Ellis, who says she suffers from vibroacoustic disease.
She lives half a mile from Jennings but said the teenager uses two nearby streets on his way to school.
"That's at 6:30 in the morning. Most people are sleeping," she said.
"No one should have to have their windows and doors rattled, dogs barking, people being woken up by someone who has been told by the police, by his parents, by his neighbors that he is violating the law and disturbing the peace."
Jennings, who prefers rap music, said his system's subwoofers "are not really that powerful." They are, however, "pretty loud," he admitted.
Jennings' mother, Bonnie, agrees that her son's music is loud. She and her husband have spoken to him about it, she said.
"We've asked him to turn it down when he's in the neighborhood. . . . I know it's loud. But it's not just him," she said as she stood in front of her Lakewood Estates home Thursday afternoon.
She said her son no longer plays his music loudly when he leaves for school at 6:30 a.m. or when he returns home to meet his 10 p.m. weekday or 11 p.m. weekend curfew.
Mrs. Ellis agreed that Jennings has "modified" his behavior but said, "I have no guarantee that he's not going to get up two days from now and say, to heck with it, and turn that thing up again."
While admitting that her son's car stereo can be loud, his mother said he is being harassed by Mrs. Ellis.
"At 6, 6:30, she's out there following him to school. I don't know why she's doing this," Mrs. Jennings said.
Her son, a Lakewood High student, feels "like if she has that big of a problem, instead of following me around everywhere, she could have like come to my house and asked for me personally and talk to me and talk to my parents."
But Mrs. Ellis said she has done enough talking.
"I talked to her (Mrs. Jennings) on the phone, and her direct words to me were, "He doesn't pay any attention to me.' She said she would try to talk to him," said Mrs. Ellis, a retired legal assistant and a member of Lakewood Estates' neighborhood crime patrol.
"The first time I saw him was last spring. He came down my street on the afternoon of March 29 in a blue Jeep. I could hear him coming for blocks. Several minutes later, I heard him coming back."
She followed the teenager. When he pulled up at a friend's house, Mrs. Ellis said she asked him if he was aware that playing his stereo at that level was against the law.
"He glared at me and turned his back and picked up his cell phone and started talking. Then he said, "What do you want me to do, lady? Cry you a river?' "
In her lawsuit, Mrs. Ellis included a letter sent by Lakewood Estates Community Police Officer Richard Grimberg to Jennings' parents - to whom the vehicle their son was driving was registered.
"To avoid further involvement on the part of the St. Petersburg Police Department, and out of respect for those who live here, we request that you "tone down' your car stereo," the letter said.
Grimberg said during an interview Friday that a state statute prohibits music or any other noise loud enough from a vehicle on a street to be heard 100 feet away. The letter the Jenningses received was similar to those sent to other Lakewood Estates residents, he said.
"It's just a courtesy letter, just a friendly reminder. We just ask them to be ever mindful of the residents in the area," Grimberg said.
"By the same token, we also send out good-guy letters. We just want people to know that there is an awareness out there and we want them to obey the law."
In her lawsuit filed in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court last week, Mrs. Ellis says Jennings has caused her pain and suffering and robbed her of her right to peaceful enjoyment of her home.
Specifically, she says she has suffered from the low-frequency vibrations of his music. The noise, she says, has interrupted her "thought processes," increased her blood pressure and caused pain near her heart.
The teenager would like the lawsuit to go away.
"If we can come to some sort of a deal like, maybe I could write a little sticky note or something before I get in the neighborhood and it would remind me" to turn down the music, he said.
Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
