News 12 at 11 o'clock, July 23, 2008

COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga.---There's some commotion going on in Columbia County. Some people are making some noise about the volume at the new Columbia County Amphitheater. They're saying its too loud, and it's interrupting their weekends.

The first complaint happened after a country music concert in late April, and the complaining didn't stop there. More and more neighbors have jumped on board.

It may be a quiet place now, but one Sunday night a month it's full of people and music. The Columbia County Amphitheater sits practically in the backyard of some neighbors in Evans.

They're used quiet, but they're not used to music. "It was really loud. The thump of the bass, the drums, etc. You could definitely feel it on that occasion," says Kirk Gilliard, who lives nearby and heard the loud music at his mother's house.

That occasion, a country concert, in April. Kirk Gilliard, his mother, and some other neighbors took action, calling leisure services and asking them to make some changes. "Well there was nothing really you could do about it but make some calls the next day and ask them to correct it next time. Which, that's the course we took," says Gilliard.

And correct it, they did. They changed their ordinances. Now they're monitoring their noise levels, making sure they don't exceed forty-five decibels. They also are now making sure that acts pull the plug and can't play past 10 PM. "We appreciate the county taking the interest of the neighborhood into account and correcting the problem...and hope it stays that way," says Gilliard.

There is a concert at the amphitheater this Sunday afternoon at 5:30 PM. Neighbors I talked to say they feel comfortable that they will be able to relax inside their homes on their Sunday off.