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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance No. 363ORDINANCE NO 363 AN ORDITANCE OF THE CITY OF AZUSA RELATING TO AIR RAID PRECAUTIONS. The City Council of the City of Azusa does hereby ordain as follows: SECTION 1. As used in this ordinance the following words and phrases shall mean: "Air raid warning signal" shall mean a sig- nal, by siren, whistle, horn or other audible device, of two minutes duration consisting of either a fluctuating or warbling signal of varying pitch or a succession of inter- mittent blasts of about five seconds duration separated by a silent period of about three seconds. "All clear signal" shall mean a continuous signal, by siren, horn or other audible device, of two minutes duration at a steady pitch. "Period of air raid alarm" shall mean the interval of time between the giving of the air raid warning signal and the giving of the next succeeding all clear signal. "Blackout structure" shall mean any space so enclosed that any illumination maintained or existing therein is not visible from any point outside such enclosure. SECTIONS The Chief of Police is hereby authorized and directed to cause the sounding of an air raid warning,sig- nal and of an all clear signal when, and only when, the district in which the city is located is notified so to do by the United States Aircraft Warning Service. SECTION 3. Any person who effects or maintains any Illumination, or permits any illumination under his control to be effected or maintained, at any place within the City of Azusa during any period of air raid alarm in the hours of darkness, except within a blackout structure, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. SECTION 4., The maintenance or leaving of any illumination, except within a blackout structure, without provision for its extinguishment, within one minute after the commencement of a period of air raid alarm by a competent person over the age of eight6en years attendant at the place where such il- lumination is controlled, is hereby prohibited. SECTION 50 In order to enable the Chief of Police to conform to the request of the United States Aircraft Warning Service for the obscuration, diminu- tion or extinguishment of any illumination, whether in or out of doors, which increases the vulnerability of the City of Azusa, or any portion thereof, to air attack, or for the regulation of traffic during the period of air raid alarm, the Chief of Police may adopt and promulgate reasonable rules and regulations for such purposes, and any rules or regulations so adopted by him shall be and remain in effect for thirty (30) days - thereafter, but no longer unless approved within said time by resolution of the City Council; provided, how- ever, that any rule or regulation so adopted by the Chief of Police may at any time be rescinded by resolution of the City Council. Violation of any such rule.or regu- lation so adopted and promulgated is hereby declared to be a misdemeanor. SECTION 6. It shall be unlawful to disobey any lawful direction or order of a peace officer, highway patrolman, or fireman given during a period of air raid alarm, which order is reasonably necessary for the main- tenance of public order or safety or to effect the ex- tinguishment or obscuration of light. SECTION 7. Any illumination contrary to the provisions of this ordinance, or to any rule or regulation adopted and promulgated in accordance with Section 5 hereof, constitutes a public nuisance, and the same may be summarily abated by any peace officer, highway patrolman, or fireman. Any structure may be entered by any peace officer, highway patrolman, or fireman, using reasonable force if necedsary, for the purpose of abating such nuisance by extinguishing such illumination. SECTION g. At the commencement of a period of air raid alarm, the operator of any motor vehicle shall forth- with bring such vehicle as far as possible to the side of the street, road or highway off the main traveled portion thereof, and the operator of such motor vehicle, and the operator of any street car, shall bring such motor vehicle or street car to a stop clear of any crossing, intersection, fire house, fire plug, hospital or other emergency depot or area, and during the hours of darkness shall extinguish all lights therein or thereon and said motor vehicle or street car shall remain so situated during the period of air raid alarm, unless directed or ordered to move by a peace officer, highway patrolman, or fireman. SECTION 9. The provisions of .this ordinance shall not apply to blackout emergency vehicles, which shall in- clude the following; (1) All Army and Navy vehicles; (2) All vehicles with United States Government credentials indicating the necessity of emergency movement; - 2 - (3) All authorized fined in sections 44 Code of California; emergency vehicles as de - and 44.1 of the Vehicle (4) All vehicles being operated by members of the California State Guard while actually on duty; (5) All vehicles of volunteer personnel en- gaged in the operation of the Aircraft Warning Service of the Fourth Interceptor Command while such personnel are actually going to or from their posts of duty; (6) All vehicles certified by sheriffs, dis- trict attorneys, theOd lifornia State Highway Patrol, police chiefs, and fire chiefs, when within the respective territorial jurisdictions of the certifying office, as being essential to the preservation of the public peace and safety or to the dissemination of public information or to the national defense; provided, however, that such vehicles shall conform to the uniform lighting regulations approved by the Department of Motor Vehicles and the California State High- way Patrol for blackout emergency vehicles. No certificate shall be issued which conflicts with any regulation or order of the United States Army applicable in the area for which the certificate is issued. SECTION 10. It shall be unlawful for any person without authority, during any air raid alarm, to use, wear, exhibit or possess any uniform, insignia, credential, or other in- dication of authority, or any imitation"thereof, adopted and issued by any official civilian defense organization. SECTION 11.. Any person who shall operate a siren, whistle or other audible device in such a manner as to simulate an air raid warning signal or an all clear signal, except upon order of the Chief of Policel or other proper authority, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. SECTION 12. The provisions of every ordinance of this city and every administrative order made pursuant thereto, requiring any illumination to be maintained in conflict with this ordinance or with any rule or regulation made pursuant to section 5 of this ordinance, shall be deemed suspended during the period between any air raid warning signal and the next succeeding all clear signal. SECTIO Any person who shall violate any provision of this ordinance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not exceed- ing three hundred dollars (300.00) or by -imprisonment in the City Jail or in the County Jail not exceeding three months, or by both such fine and imprisonment. — 3 — SECTION 14. This ordinance is required for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, and the following is the statement of facts constituting such urgency: the United States is at war and this city is in great and continuing danger of air and other attack by the enemy. SECTION 15, If any provision of this ordinance or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid provision or applica- tion, and to this end the provisions of this ordinance are declared to be severable. SECTION 16, The Mayor shall sign this ordinance and the City Clerk shall attest same and certify to the passage, adoption and publication thereof and shall cause the same to be publighed oce, within fifteen days after its passage, in the zusa erald and Pomotropic, a weekly newspaper of general circulation printed, pub- lished and circulated in the City of Azusa, which said newspaper is hereby designated for that purpose, and thenceforth and thereafter this ordinance shall be in full force and effect. y / V. A. Owens Mayor of the City of Azusa. ATTEST: M. A. Hyne City Cle of the City of Azusa. Passed, approved and adopted this 7 ot.1l day of ,Tanuan� r= , 1942. - 4 - STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) SS. I, Id. A. HYNES, City Clerk of the City of Azusa, Los Angeles County, California, do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance was duly introduced, placed upon its first reading and fully read at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Azusa held on January 5, 1942, in the regular Council Chambers of said City Council in said City; that thereafter said ordinance was duly and regularly passed and adopted. by said Council, signed and approved by the Mayor and attested by the City Clerk of said City, at an adjourned regular meeting of said Council so held in the regular Council Chambers of said City Council on January 12, 1942, and that the same was passed and adopted by the following vote of the Council: Ayes: Councilmen: Jumper, Bradshaw, Arnold, Owens Noes: None Absent: Councilman: Malone I DO FURTHER CERTIFY that I caused said ordinance to be published prior to the expiration of fifteen days from the passage thereof in the Azusa Herald and Pomotropic on January 15, 1942, a newspaper of general circulation, printed, published and circulated in said City of Azusa, and that the same was published in accordance with law. �I Al. A. H City Clerk of the "5— of Azusa..