[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of
Washington 7-9-1970 by Ord. No. 1970-1.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Parks and recreation areas — See Ch.
76.
Sexually oriented businesses — See Ch.
97.
[Amended 4-11-1991 by Ord. No. 1991-3]
No person shall commit disorderly conduct. "Disorderly conduct," within
the meaning of this chapter, is hereby defined as:
A. Any act, word or conduct causing or tending to cause
a disturbance of the peace and good order of the Township or causing or tending
to cause any danger or annoyance to any person within the limits of the Township,
and shall include loafing, fighting, drunkenness, vagrancy, begging, profanity
or indecent language or acts; the making of any unnecessary noises or disturbances,
clamor, din or other sounds tending to disturb the peace and quiet of the
community; or the carrying on of any business, trade, transportation, recreation
or amusement at a time, in a place or in a manner which causes any unnecessary
noise or disturbance or danger.
B. The unnecessary sounding of automobile horns, sirens,
bells, whistles or other warning devices; the operation of any motor vehicle
which makes unnecessary or unusual noise caused by an improper muffler, by
the backfire or racing of the motor or by the screeching of tires; and the
racing of motor vehicles commonly termed "drag racing."
C. The operation of radios, victrolas or other mechanical
instruments or singing, shouting or playing of musical instruments in a manner
which unnecessarily disturbs the peace and quiet of the immediate neighborhood.
D. Loafing, loitering, lounging or congregating on the street
corners or in front of or about any place of business or public place in the
Township.
E. Acting in and about the streets or other public places
of the Township in a noisy, loud, boisterous and unseemly manner or in such
manner as to disturb the peace and quiet of the community.
F. Conducting or participating in any lewd or immoral show.
G. Engaging in a riot or other violent assembly.
H. The use or discharge of fireworks, firecrackers, sparklers
or other pyrotechnics in any public or private place, except as authorized
by state law.
I. The furnishing to minors under the age of 21 years or
the consumption by minors of alcoholic beverages.
[Amended 4-11-1991 by Ord. No. 1991-3]
No person shall gamble. "Gambling," within the meaning of this chapter,
is hereby defined as:
A. The act of setting up, maintaining, opening or conducting
any gambling place, gambling devises or gambling machines, including bagatelle
tables, punch boards, bookmaking and/or paraphernalia pertaining to the same
and to horse racing and/or anything that is now or may be hereafter placed
on the market, known or not known at this time by name, that will be construed
as a gambling device, machine or article pertaining thereto.
B. Any act of writing or selling numbers, collecting numbers
as written by others or any act contributing to the nuisance of number writing
commonly referred to as the "number racket."
[Amended 4-11-1991 by Ord. No. 1991-3]
No person shall carry concealed weapons. "Carrying concealed weapons,"
within the meaning of this chapter, is hereby defined as the act of carrying
any firearm, bomb, explosive substance, slingshot, handy-billy, dirk-knife,
razor or any other deadly weapon concealed upon the person or any knife, razor
or cutting instrument, the blade of which can be exposed in an automatic way
by switch, push button, spring mechanism or otherwise, unless authorized by
law.
[Amended 4-11-1991 by Ord. No. 1991-3]
No person shall sound a false alarm. "Sounding false alarms," within
the meaning of this chapter, is hereby defined as the act of knowingly giving,
turning in or raising or causing to be given or raised or turned in a false
alarm for fire or police by the ringing of fire bells or the giving of any
other common or recognized alarm.
[Amended 4-11-1991 by Ord. No. 1991-3]
No person shall obstruct an officer in the execution of process or in
the performance of his duties. "Obstructing an officer in the execution of
process or in the performance of his duties," within the meaning of this chapter,
is hereby defined as the act of knowingly, willfully or forcibly obstructing,
resisting or opposing any officer or other person duly authorized, while he
is serving or attempting to serve or execute any legal process or order or
is making a lawful arrest.
No person shall maliciously injure property. "Malicious injury to property,"
within the meaning of this chapter, is hereby defined as:
A. The felling, mutilating or otherwise wantonly destroying
of any trees or shrubbery, or the fruit, flowers or seeds thereof, growing
upon any private property and not owned by the actor or along the streets,
alleys or highways of the Township or upon any property owned by the Township.
B. The destroying, injuring or tearing down of any sign,
door, doorbell or knocker, window, water pipe, step, spouting, window shutter,
fence, gate, monument, tombstone or other real or personal property located
in the Township and not owned by the actor.
C. The clogging or blocking of any street sewer, street
drainage ditch or sanitary sewer or the tampering with or opening of any fire
hydrant.
D. The affixing of any placard, poster, notice or advertisement
of any kind upon any public building of the Township or upon any pole erected
by any telegraph, telephone, electric or street railway company upon any of
the streets, sidewalks or alleys of the Township, provided that nothing herein
contained shall apply to official notices posted as required by law.
E. The defacing or disfiguring of or writing upon or in
any manner causing any marks, lines, figures, letters or caricatures of any
kind to be placed upon any house, fence, wall, building, structure, automobile
or other auto vehicle or any part thereof without permission of the owner
thereof.
[Amended 4-11-1991 by Ord. No. 1991-3]
No person shall litter. "Littering," within the meaning of this chapter,
is hereby defined as throwing, dropping or placing or causing to be thrown,
dropped or placed on any of the streets, alleys, sidewalks or other public
places in the Township any animal carcass; fish; oyster shells; garbage; slaughterhouse
offal; broken glass; crockery; china; cuttings of tin, sheet iron or other
metal; nails or any other kind of material calculated to wound, bruise or
maim man or beast or to impair property; vegetables, fruit peels or rinds
or shells thereof; ashes; dirt; rubbish of any kind; garbage; pasteboard boxes;
paper; advertisements and handbills; show bills; wastepaper; or sweepings
or suffering the same to be or remain deposited in any location in any of
said streets, alleys, highways or other public places in the Township, adjoining
or adjacent to the premises of each owner, tenant or occupier.
[Amended 4-11-1991 by Ord. No. 1991-3]
No person shall obstruct public ways. "Obstructing public ways," within
the meaning of this chapter, is hereby defined as:
A. The obstructing or blocking of any public street, road,
highway, alley or sidewalk with coal, wood, barrels, boxes, wagons, automobiles
or any other obstructions in such manner as to restrict the flow of traffic.
This section shall not be construed so as to prohibit obstruction of such
public ways for the purpose of immediate loading or unloading.
B. Causing or allowing water or any liquid or effluent of
any kind to be discharged onto any public way.
C. Parking or leaving unattended any vehicle of any kind
at places designated by the Supervisors as no-parking areas, provided that
said areas are marked by the Supervisors by no-parking signs.
No person shall deposit, dump or permit to accumulate upon any public
or private property within the Township any accumulations of garbage, rubbish
or junk of any kind. "Junk" shall include but not be limited to abandoned
motor vehicles and motor vehicles which are not in sufficiently good condition
to pass inspection pursuant to the Vehicle Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This provision shall not apply to licensed junk dealers.
[Amended 6-9-1988 by Ord. No. 1988-3; 4-11-1991
by Ord. No. 1991-3; 7-11-1996 by Ord.
No. 1996-4; 6-12-1997 by Ord. No. 1997-3]
Any person who shall violate any provision of this code shall, upon
conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding $1,000 and, in
default of payment thereof, to imprisonment for a term not to exceed 30 days.
Each day that a violation of this code continues shall constitute a separate
offense. Enforcement shall be by action brought before a District Justice
in the same manner provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under
the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure.
The word "person," as used in this chapter, shall in all cases include
any individual or individuals, partnership, association or corporation, singular
or plural, including the responsible officers of any such association or corporation.