More than six months agao Thomas Ryan was issued a citation for an \unreasonable noise violation."" Last August Ryan, better known to students as the orange-wearing piccolo player who performs at Library Mall, went to court to contest the ticket, but his efforts were not successful. The Dane County Court ordered Ryan to pay $69 or complete seven hours of community service; he did neither. Instead, he is once again heading to court.
Ryan was told if he continued to frequent his former site outside Memorial Library, he would receive another ticket. After the hearing, Ryan began playing at Lisa Link Peace Park and outside Humanities, but he later opted not to play at the park because it was not a prime location.
Rather than simply paying the ticket or performing the community service, Ryan decided to continue fighting the ticket. He has a pre-trial hearing this morning wuth a trial is scheduled for January 21. He chose to defend himself in the first case, but decided to enlist the services of a lawyer for the pre-trial hearing.
""I guess in the United States of America courts are looking out for economic interests and if I tell them I can't make as much money otherwise, that might influence their decision,"" he said.
Robert March, former UW-Madison physics professor, testified in Ryan's defense last August, and still stands by him. He said he believes Ryan is not being treated fairly, and said he is much more annoyed when rock bands perform.
March said he considered musicians ""unique aspects"" of State Street, and the city should not ban musicians from playing.
""To say we should be banning street musicians on State Street, or reducing them to those that one or two people ... like the music of is an absurd abuse of the noise abatement ordinance,"" he said.
However, Ryan's piccolo does not enjoy unanimous consent. Beth Fatsis, owner of the Athenian Garden Food Cart, called the police last spring after having to listen to Ryan for several hours a day, five days a week.
""I got headaches from it, it's piercing. It's a piercing noise to hear over and over and over, for hours at a time, days at a time,"" she said.
Fatsis said she believes this is a double standard, because vendors would be issued a citation and lose their licenses if they played music audible to those inside the library.
