On the Side| Brad Hicks
Red Oak residents ready to light the fuse under the state’s new fireworks law could be about to experience a dud.
At the city council meeting last week, some Red Oak leaders stated their concerns for safety and appeared to be headed toward asking for approval of a regulation to forbid the use of fireworks in the city limits. (See story in this edition.)
The council plans to have the matter on its agenda at next Monday night’s meeting at City Hall, and a draft ordinance is said to be in the works. It’s unknown how much support there is on the council for such an ordinance.
Safety, of course, is always one of the top concerns of government leaders. They don’t want anyone getting hurt unnecessarily. So, in a state where oversize farm implements can be operated on busy state highways regardless of the time of day, 14-year-olds can drive to school so long as it’s at least a mile away, and convicted sex offenders and firebugs can eventually leave prison, lawmakers opted to give local government an out on fireworks. You know, just to be safe.
Snarky remarks aside, fireworks can be dangerous. It seems not more than a few years go by without a story of a community display going wrong, a fireworks facility going up like Baghdad in ’91, or a pro football player blasting off a couple of fingers.
The safety is for the kids.
Really.
And that’s why as a parent, I allowed one of my sons to help my adult friends set up a pretty intricate private fireworks display, and then allowed him to help set off the rockets amid the red glare. He got to see first-hand how to do it safely.
We had our own show because we could – one of the guys lived in the country and obtained a permit from the local board of supervisors – and because we all wanted to have a good time together on the Fourth. It was a blast for the 25 or so of us who sat on lawn chairs looking nearly straight up, the folks who parked in a church lot about a quarter mile away, and others slowing down on the county road to eyeball the explosions.
Several of us purchased fireworks north, west and south of the Iowa border and hauled the ammo for the show back to the state. I have to admit I wasn’t sure if I was hauling contraband or not, given “John” had a permit for the show.
No one was hurt in any of the five or six years we did it, though it was pretty exciting the night one of those big starburst shells went off 50 feet in the air rather than 100!
Despite the good time, I realize there are real concerns beyond safety. The sounds are intrusive to some people who have conditions that might be aggravated – PTSD, dementia, and others are cited. Pets can be perturbed. Small children can have their hearing negatively impacted.
It’s likely our fireworks “show” was beyond what lawmakers had in mind in passing the state’s new law. I wouldn’t even consider doing something such as that in my residential neighborhood given all the asphalt shingles that might go up from a stray ember. Perhaps there is a way for the city to designate specific locations and times for these things, with some supervision available for people to shoot off their works.
Regardless, I cannot help but think lawmakers have placed local jurisdictions in a pickle – if they don’t allow them, people might be upset, and if they do allow them and someone gets injured, then someone might want to blame the city for not outlawing them.
I think I can hear lawyers and insurance underwriters typing their deafening recommendations.
Brad Hicks is publisher of The Express. Reach him at publisher@redoakexpress.com.