Ask Mr. Answer Person: More questions about the proposed anti-idling ordinance in Decorah

Randy e-mails: "I have some questions for Mr. Answer Person about the (proposed) idling ordinance: 1) Are we going to have an idle policeman? 2) What are the fines for idling? 3) How will the police go about enforcing the ordinance? 4) Are there any statistics for idling in Decorah to show that cars are idling much more than 5 minutes in one spot. or how much idling is going on? 5) What's the difference between a person idling their car for 10 minutes in the Fareway parking lot and a person idling for 5 minutes at Fareway, then going to Kwik Star and idling for 5 minutes there?"

Mr. Answer Person says, "Thanks for your e-mail, Randy, it was the highlight of our day at the Tiny World Headquarters of decorahnews.com.  We are again providing a link to the wording of the proposed ordinance, so you can read it yourself, but here are our answers: 1) It will be the job of the entire police department--whether idle or not--to enforce the ordinance.  2) The first violation will prompt a stern warning.  The second violation will result in a $25 fine.  3) Police Chief Bill Nixon says enforcement will be limited to happening during routine patroling by police.  4) No, there are no statistics on how much idling is going on. 5) A person can get a warning or a fine for idling their car or truck for more than 5 minutes, so, theoretically, someone idling for 10 minutes at Fareway gets one ticket and someone idling 5 minutes at Fareway and 5 minutes at Kwik Star gets two tickets.  But would someone who is idling have enough energy to idle twice?"

Again, the actual wording of the proposed ordinance is linked below.