Anyone up for finding a good lawyer in west MI to take on the Ottowa county sheriff Dept.?


Kind thinking of a class action type thing where we sue for harassment. If we can get at least 100 people to donate $100 each we would have plenty to start.

They only check the go fast boats and no cruisers. I know of several cruisers that would not pass the 90db idle test. 90db is very quite.

Anyone Interested?

Have a local lawyer write a letter stating the harrassment and a local group is looking into a claas action suit.

Wannabe

We just attempted to visit Grand Haven. Being out-of-towners (Maryland), we were unaware of the 90dB restriction, and were turned back by the Sheriffs department before making it past the municipal launch ramp. The deputy was polite but firm. If we had had a trailer in Grand Haven, he would have had us load up and leave town. As it was, we were asked to return to Lake Michigan.

I sent an email to the marina that we were scheduled to stay at , explaining that they and the City of Grand Haven had just lost my money.

Work the Chamber of Commerce angle - money talks.

I'm in. Just got ticket today in Holland by Ottawa Sheriffs dept. I have 496's & silent choice, which they would not allow me to use during test.
They said ticketing loud boats was their number one mission. I said I would think addressing reckless jet skiers would be a more important safety issue.
I'd like to make out voice heard to marina owners, restuarants, chambe commerce, etc.

It's all a money thing. I have a buddy who is a lawyer. I'll ask him and see what he says. I'll keep in touch. God forbid someone loosens the old folk's ear wax. That's society for you these days.

Well as much as this sucks they are doing it to them selves. I know I have not gone to GH this year because of the stories about them with noise. I did test mine and I should be ok, but from what I have heard they are not doing the tests correctly and still handing out tickets.

On a side note have not had a single probelm from the patrol in St.joe or South Haven.

BL6- I would fingt that, you have silent choic and use it around the docks I think that is totally unfair.

Wannabe

I CAN NOT BELIEVE THEY MADE YOU LEAVE THAT IS UNBELIEVABLE

Alot of people with silent choice install a secondary switch (hidden...hint hint) that cuts the power to the dash switch. This will disable the silent choice to comply with MI law since silent choise is illegal to have.

I posted the same thing on the speedwake forum, and it caught the attention of a GH/Holland Ottawa county sheriff, he has answered several questions for us and has explained what you can do if you don’t feel the test is performed properly.
If every officer was like him we would have a great city to boat in.

He suggested maybe starting a petition and start presenting it to the chamber of commerce, congressman, and city meetings. Enough people complained about the noise that city responded by having the sheriff’s make noise a priority. Enough of us complaining can get it stopped or at least change the way testing is done and what the db limit is.

The biggest thing would be to target the chamber of commerce and show them the stats on how many people avoid this town.

That sucks............you would think they would give you a little hospitality being a traveler !!

Jon