OFF THE WIRE
W.T.F.http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20100926-NEWS-9260323
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Portsmouth attorney Bob Shaines, center, stands with Dave Hickey, left, of Rye, and Bill Mitchell of New Castle. They have formed New Hampshire Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles, or NH CALM. Rich Beauchesne/rbeauchesne@seacoastonline.com By Elizabeth Dinan edinan@seacoastonline.com September 26, 2010 2:00 AM Bill Mitchell was so annoyed by loud motorcycles roaring past his New Castle home, he used his own money to buy the town's police department a decibel meter last year.
It didn't help, said Mitchell, noting it takes three officers to take an accurate decibel reading from a stopped motorcycle. So he's moved on to Plan B.
He and seven other Seacoast residents have formed the nonprofit organization New Hampshire Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles, now known as NH CALM. The group is legally formed as a corporation, has retained Portsmouth attorney Robert Shaines and its goal is to raise awareness, publicity and legal defense funds.
"Right now we're self-funded," Mitchell said.
The organization's first order of business is an attempt to intervene with the town of North Hampton as defendants in a lawsuit filed by Seacoast Harley Davidson. The Harley dealership filed suit in Rockingham Superior Court in opposition to a new North Hampton ordinance regulating the decibel levels emitted by motorcycles. The ordinance requires an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sticker on all motorcycles manufactured after 1982, which indicates decibel levels don't exceed 80. That level is lower than the state of New Hampshire's level of 106 decibels.
"The ordinance basically bans motorcycles from the town if they do not have an EPA label on their exhaust system even though the motorcycles comply with the state's noise level limit of 106 decibels," according to the lawsuit. "The ordinance has the effect of making the majority of Seacoast's (Harley dealership) entire used motorcycle inventory illegal."
The Harley dealership also notes that after-market exhaust pipes, which are popular among Harley owners, also do not have EPA stickers.
In its lawsuit, the dealership asks the court to file a restraining order barring North Hampton from enforcing the motorcycle noise ordinance, to declare that state law trumps the local ordinance in terms of motorcycle noise and to award attorney's fees.
Shaines said he hopes "to get a ruling to uphold an ordinance similar to the North Hampton ordinance." The crux of his work with NH CALM, he said, will be legal argument about whether federal law preempts state law. It's an argument that could wind up with the state Supreme Court.
The town of North Hampton has not objected to NH CALM's motion to participate in the pending suit, while the Harley dealership has filed a formal objection with the court. North Hampton has an Oct. 7 deadline to respond.
Earlier this year, the N.H. House killed a bill that would have mandated EPA stickers on motorcycle pipes as "inexpedient to legislate." Mitchell wrote to legislators urging them to enact the proposed law.
"For too long the citizens of New Hampshire have had to endure the outrageous racket caused by improperly muffled motorcycles," he wrote in January. "There is no justification in this day and age of environmental enlightenment to permit this noise pollution, or for allowing a minority to infringe on the rights of the majority to peace and quiet."
The bill was sponsored by state Rep. Judith Day, D-North Hampton, who has since joined NH CALM.
Since then, the North Hampton police chief, the county attorney and a N.H. Local Government Center attorney have all stated publicly that the North Hampton ordinance is not enforceable.
Mitchell said Day's husband Larry Miller, state Rep. David Borden, D-New Castle, and several Rye residents have joined NH CALM. And while there is a Maine CALM organization, also in opposition to motorcycle noise, Mitchell said it is not affiliated and, unlike NH CALM, not incorporated.
