The Carbondale Police Department will take to the streets again this spring, with $500 tickets in hand, to punish sound violators, an officer says.

The Carbondale Police Department will continue a spring ritual of enforcing a Carbondale city ordinance that prohibits sound from a sound amplifying device that can be heard 50 feet from the vehicle.

Don Priddy, Carbondale resource officer, said the ordinance is enforced more vigorously again this spring because in the spring and summer, more people drive with their car windows down.

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Priddy said if an officer hears sound from a vehicle, at least up to 50 feet away, the officer will pull the vehicle over. If it is a first offense, the driver will be given a warning. A second offense warrants a fine up to $500, he said.

Priddy said the department receives complaints from residents of loud music coming from cars, but it does not mean a ticket will be issued. He said the ordinance is primarily enforced on the street by an officer who hears the sound from a vehicle.

Glenda Davis, deputy city clerk, said the ordinance was adopted in 1990 by the Carbondale City Council, but Priddy said each spring police enforce the ordinance more beginning in the spring and continuing through the summer.