Comments on: Festivities extinguished

By: Xion

Xion — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:01:23 +0000

John Adams, the second president said “I believe that it [Independence Day] will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival,” he wrote his wife, Abigail. “It ought to be celebrated by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other…”

If he were alive today, he would face a 3 month jail sentence for lighting a sparkler in his own state. So much for liberty!

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By: llama

llama — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:03:37 +0000

#5 PeterL,

According to the article it is common for small churches to sell fireworks so I am not certain how silly it is. I personally haven’t seen or been assisted with one that did – but it must be common?

What I can’t figure out is if the city changed the law that made selling fireworks illegal after the church had purchased them and a place to sell them or if the church just didn’t know they were illegal to sell them or if was always illegal but the law was never enforced.

I don’t think it has been dry in Indiana for an emergency ban on fireworks since it has been flooding all over the Midwest. Somehting just doesn’t make sense in this story if you ask me.

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By: Xion

Xion — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:19:05 +0000

My wife is visiting family in the middle of a new fire in Goleta, CA today. They’ve lost power, but so far have not been forced to evacuate. She has no fireworks on her.

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By: Victoria

Victoria — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:08:09 +0000

The fires are horrific, I can’t imagine anyone even thinking of fireworks in Northern CA. The wine country, Big Sur, etc, how sad it is for those who are losing business and homes. It’s a beautiful lush part of our state, very sad.

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By: Xion

Xion — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:50:04 +0000

In Massachusetts, i.e. the state that bans chasing games on playgrounds, it is illegal for private citizens to use, purchase, possess or sell fireworks or any other article designed to produce a visible or audible effect.

This law, if taken literally, bans pretty much all sensory perceptions, let alone anything someone might call fun.

It is hilarious that loony lefties have become the very thing they hate. They are the new Puritans.

I live in NH where beer and explosives are available pretty much everywhere. We even have liquor stores on the highway.

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By: Karen O

Karen O — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:10:10 +0000

I’m sure it seemed like a good idea & a good investment at the time. I hope they find a way to recoup their money & raise more for their building.

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By: Peter L

Peter L — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:34:57 +0000

Silly church. Why didn’t they just invest the $8k in some high interest CD or use it as a down payment?

The city near here decided to hold off on the fire works display because of the flooding. They are going to have them in August instead.

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By: llama

llama — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:23:11 +0000

Well, this could at least feel devastating to this small church right now but they could use some other, legal, traditional approaches to raise money like having a gun show instead

For decades in many parts of the country, it has been illegal to possess and use fireworks privately because of fire hazards – Like Most of Arizona. It only took a few fires before government changed the laws and took away everyone right to shoot of fireworks. We just all go to the fireworks display put on by the city who has the fire department on hand and who exempted themselves so that citizens wouldn’t feel tempted to buy illegal fireworks. But what all laws have in common is that they protect a group of citizens, usually a small group, while taking away the rights of everyone else.

But, there still is a lot of illegal gunfire on the 4th for some reason. I haven’t heard of anyone getting injured from this but it bound to happen eventually even though it is of course illegal. This points to the other thing all laws have in common. There will always be a small group of people who are criminals, who ignore the law at your and their peril.

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By: JohnV

JohnV — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:11:01 +0000

Ha, we’ve had over 10 inches in the last couple of weeks; let the fireworks commence! (Michigan…)

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By: KI

KI — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:30:19 +0000

Devastating? I could think of a lot of things that are devasting, but this is not one of them. Not good, but certainly not devastating.

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