Local Biker’s “Quiet” Victory Against the Carefree Noise Ordinance
Carefree, Ariz. (February 19, 2004) – Anthony S. Parete considers himself a conservative and responsible motorcycle
rider, but on September 14, 2003, while returning from a regular “breakfast ride” to Harrold’s Corral in Cave Creek,
Mr. Parete passed through the Town of Carefree. There, he and his three friends each came to a stop at the intersection
of Pima and Cave Creek Road when Mr. Parete saw a patrolman parked on the west side of Pima road, just south of
the intersection. Mr. Parete also noticed that the patrolman had erected a microphone above his vehicle and, having
been through these types of noise “check points” before, that the patrolman was measuring for “noise violations.”
Mr. Parete knew of Carefree’s Noise Ordinance, which was recently enacted in 2002, but the noise check point did
not concern Mr. Parete since he had ridden his motorcycle through such noise check points on several occasions
since the passage of the Noise Ordinance without incident. Nevertheless, after passing the patrolman’s vehicle
in short succession, the four riders, including Mr. Parete, were stopped and cited for violating the Town’s Noise
Ordinance.
“I thought it was crazy,” says Mr. Parete, “like most bikers, I ride in a very responsible manner. I thought,
‘how can you get a ticket for simply riding a motorcycle with a few friends?’” The officer’s advice was to “tell
it to the judge,” which is exactly what Mr. Parete did at a hearing on October 30, 2003. At the hearing, the patrolman
admitted that, since the riders were only a few feet apart, he could not get individual noise readings on each
rider. The Officer explained:
[T]he first bike [to pass] was at 88 decibels [and] [a]s the bikes continued to pass by my location, with the decibel
meter, I observed it continuously going up. And at no point did it fluctuate to a lesser decibel [level] . . .
. The decibel meter continued to go up, and finally completed at 98.8 decibels with the passing of the fourth bike
. . . . [Thereafter,] I contacted the riders of all four motorcycles and issued citations to all four riders for
noise above 85 decibels, which is a violation of the town ordinance for noise.
In fact, the Officer testified that he was unable to identify Mr. Parete’s position in the sequence of motorcycles,
except to indicate that Mr. Parete was one of the group of four.
“I thought there was no way I could be in violation – I’d been through the Town on my motorcycle and past those
check points before without any issues,” said Mr. Parete. Nevertheless, the Judge ruled that, since Mr. Parete
was “riding in a pack” he could be held individually responsible for the accumulation of noise from “the pack.”
“I wanted to fight for my rights, but I just didn’t have the resources,” said Mr. Parete. Fortunately, Mr. Parete
was contacted by two local attorneys, Warren G. Levenbaum and Geoffrey M. Trachtenberg, who also enjoy riding motorcycles
and volunteered to represent Mr. Parete for free.
The two attorneys, part of the LawTigers at the law firm of Levenbaum & Cohen, filed an appellate brief on
behalf of Mr. Parete arguing that the Noise Ordinance was unconstitutional and that it was unlawful to find Mr.
Parete in violation of the Noise Ordinance absent proof that he individually violated the Noise Ordinance.
“We were looking forward to having this matter addressed on appeal,” said Mr. Trachtenberg, “but that is not going
to happen now.” The reason is because the Town of Carefree took the unusual step of filing a responsive brief,
admitting that there was “insufficient evidence” presented at the hearing to find Mr. Parete in violation of the
Noise Ordinance. The Town stated that “the finding of responsibility in this case should be reversed.”
“This is what you call a ‘quiet’ victory,” says Mr. Levenbaum, but the two attorneys remain concerned. “This resolution
will not necessarily stop patrolmen or the trial courts from holding others responsible for violating the Noise
Ordinance just because they are riding in a group,” says Mr. Trachtenberg.
For Mr. Parete, however, the victory is still gratifying. “We can now resume our weekend breakfast rides,” he
says, “and I am grateful for the assistance of the LawTigers.”
Levenbaum & Cohen
362 North Third Avenue
Phoenix, Arizona 85003
602-271-0183
www.lawtigers.com