What happens when you light a fuse?
It is fairly sensible to expect a reaction when that spark reaches the opposite end of the fuse.
What’s the point?
Cities that allow the use of fireworks set up unachievable expectations for those who want peace and quiet around the Fourth of July.
What happens when a city allows the sale of fireworks within its boundaries?
Fireworks will be shot, in daylight. After dark. After the neighbors are in bed. When the already skittish dog is out taking care of business.
Arm a community with firecrackers, smoke bombs, whistling missiles, Roman candles, bottle rockets and other explosives that can rightly be referred to as aerial bombardments and its residents are bound to put them to use. This is not an unforeseeable outcome of fireworks sales.
But Springdale leaders are frustrated, and we're sure they share that reaction with city leaders all over the state. It turns out people aren't following local ordinances when it comes to shooting off fireworks. These ordinances, generally speaking, set the boundaries for annual fireworks celebrations surrounding Independence Day. Chief among those limitations are the days and times within which people can go nuts, spending as much money as they want sending their cash up in flames.
In Springdale, residents can legally shoot off fireworks from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. July 1-4 on private property when someone 21 years old or older supervises anyone under 16.
And people aren't paying any attention to the laws.
Well, we're sure there are some straight arrows who dutifully respect their neighbors and restrict their activities. Those are the kinds of great neighbors to have, so appreciate them. But fireworks do not respect neighborhood boundaries. The noise from them can travel long distances, their percussive effects strong enough to disrupt people's lives in every direction.
What is a city to do?
In a recent discussion at Springdale City Hall, there was this idea: Since people aren't obeying city ordinances, perhaps the city should amend the ordinance in response to people complaining.
How does that work? We're sure there is some outstanding legal expertise in the city, but what magical regulatory words and phrases can be strung together that will suddenly make late-night fuse-lighters toe the line? Changing a law that people aren't following will just give them new laws to ignore.
Springdale Police Chief Mike Peters said enforcement of the city's laws regarding fireworks is difficult, and we believe him. The people who know the laws but ignore them often shoot off their fireworks and disappear before police arrive, he said. Others who are ignorant of the laws are apologetic when confronted and immediately cease their violations, making it a bit pointless to write them up. They, after all, are no longer the problem.
Certainly, if a city is going to have a law setting the times residents can shoot off fireworks, there has to be enforcement of those laws to the extent possible. Still, it should come as no surprise that police officers appear to be chasing their tails in the effort. First, fireworks are hard to pinpoint. Second, shooters can disappear fast.
Once cities years ago agreed to allow the sale of fireworks within their borders, they established the foundations of nuisance fireworks, which are defined as any fireworks someone else is shooting off. The cities lit the fuse to this frustrating situation.
We're not arguing against the sale of fireworks at all. But for those few days in July, the only response that's going to ease residents' frustrations is to change their expectations. Within cities that allow the sale and deployment of fireworks, there's not going to be such a thing as a quiet Fourth of July or, for that matter, quiet days leading up to it.
Expecting that is like wishing for a quiet lunch on Dickson Street during Bikes, Blues & BBQ.
Commentary on 07/23/2019