Noise complaints — N. Myrtle Beach

It’s likely that few vacationers go to Myrtle Beach for the peace and solitude of a quiet and tranquil shoreline.  Yet how much noise should be tolerated in the city of North Myrtle Beach has become a controversy in which one of the players is a national organization that fights for civil liberties.  The American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina announced a federal lawsuit this week against North Myrtle Beach, the mayor, and the city’s top public safety official.  The lawsuit alleges North Myrtle’s noise law is an unconstitutional violation of free speech and, in the words of the ACLU’s announcement, “criminalizes vast swaths of protected speech, and is so vague that it promotes discriminatory enforcement.”  The plaintiff in the case owns a North Myrtle nightlife venue, the Sky Bar.  The bar has been ticketed and warned.