Complaints about noise from Sacred Heart-Griffin’s football stadium have been pouring in to the Springfield Police Department since the facility opened two years ago, but the city of Springfield has done little to stop it.
“Thirty-four pages?” exclaimed Mike Duvall, who lives more than a mile away from the stadium, when told how many pages of reports the police department has compiled about excessive noise at Sacred Heart-Griffin’s stadium. “That doesn’t surprise me. You just knew it was so loud.”
The first complaint came when the stadium was christened in March 2012. Residents then complained about music. Since then, there have been complaints about noise during softball games and minor league football games played by the Springfield Foxes. But most complaints have come when Sacred Heart-Griffin plays football.
Calls to police, the mayor’s office and aldermen have not solved the problem, and so Duvall has organized an online petition addressed to the school. While the last home game on Nov. 24 was quieter than preceding contests, Duvall says that he is leaving the petition up for people to sign in the event noise returns.
Duvall and others describe an ebb and flow of irritation, with some games fairly quiet and others loud enough to be heard indoors with televisions on while dogs bark in response to the amplified play-by-play from the stadium. Police have received 10 or more calls on a single night.
“Dispatch estimated at least 50 prior calls related to the school’s loud PA system,” an officer wrote in September 2013. “Tonight alone, dispatch estimated 10 calls because of the loud noise at Sacred Heart-Griffin.”
Calls to the school have also not resolved the problem, according to police reports. One resident called Sacred Heart to complain on Oct. 31 “and was told that people need to stop complaining and come on over and support the team,” an officer wrote.
The last complaints came on Nov. 8, when two women complained that the noise could be heard inside their houses and interfered with conversation. One of the women told police that she had complained directly to the school and was told that the volume could not be adjusted. An officer then went to the stadium, where he found Todd Green, who owns several local car dealerships, at the stadium sound booth.
Green, whose son Gabe starred at quarterback, had helped finance the new stadium. Green also told an officer that he was in charge of the sound booth. Green told the officer that he’d already spoken with police chief Kenny Winslow about excessive noise and would be happy to do so again.
“Mr. Green advised he would have the guys turn it down a little,” an officer wrote in his report that had “disorderly conduct” as the suspected offense.
Disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, is conduct that alarms or disturbs another person, but Mayor Mike Houston says that the city’s hands are tied.
“To the best of my knowledge, as we have looked at this, we have not found anything that would indicate they (SHG) would be in violation,” said Houston, adding that the city may need to pass an ordinance to address excessive stadium noise.
State’s attorney John Milhiser said that he isn’t certain whether noise from SHG’s stadium is a criminal matter.
“I haven’t seen the police reports,” Milhiser said. “It (a criminal violation) would seem unlikely. Would it be absolutely impossible? No.”
Ward 8 Ald. Kris Theilen, who represents the area, said that city ordinances regarding noise don’t apply to sporting events. He said that he’s been telling constituents to call the mayor’s office. Calls, he said, have come from well beyond his ward when the Cyclones are playing.
“I had a friend call me from Leland Grove,” Theilen said. “He said ‘I just thought you might want to know, number 15 just ran for 35 yards.’”
Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin said that he’s also fielded calls.
“We have to balance the interest of attending football games versus what the majority would consider appropriate sound volumes,” McMenamin said. “We’ve got a general nuisance code provision. We just have to balance what the general public would consider to be a nuisance.”
Sister Katherine O’Connor, SHG president, said that the school is working on the issue.
“Our purpose is to have a game for the students to enjoy, it’s not to be an annoyance to our neighbors,” O’Connor said. “We’re working on it, and we’re doing the best we can.”
O’Connor said that the school called the company that installed the sound system in 2012 and was told nothing could be done. This year, after complaints kept coming, O’Connor said that the school repositioned speakers.
“It’s (repositioning speakers) a major job,” O’Connor said. “Now, we’re working on the volume.”
O’Connor said weather, particularly wind direction, can amplify noise. But Duvall rejects the weather explanation.
“As loud as it is and as far away as it is, it’s not the weather,” he said.
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Dec 11-17, 2014.
