Every year the fireworks get larger and more dangerous. I stood outside this evening trying to calm my horses who were nearly foaming at the mouth in terror even after I tranquilized them. Two of my neighbors dogs broke out and have been lost and that’s just our little street. All because my neighbors felt it was perfectly acceptable to fire off illegal reservation fireworks like it was World War III.
We are surrounded by a forest of highly flammable cedars, hemlocks and firs. My barn is made of wood. Most of my neighbors houses are wood. And yet the guys down the street are perfectly content setting off illegal fireworks that would fit nicely in a major city’s official display. Did I call Snohomish County Sheriff? You bet. Did they do anything? It would seem not.
It is time for this onslaught to come to an end. It is time to pass a law that fireworks can only be fired off at specifically designated parks in Snohomish County. Make the penalties for violating the law severe. No more houses burned down. No more animals terrorized. A few jerks ruin it for all.
If the County Council won’t do their jobs to protect the peace, a citizen’s initiative would take somewhere around 24,000 signatures. I love fireworks. I think they are great fun. When they are reasonable or when they are professionally handled. What we have now is insanity.
Oh, and a note about the reservations that sell the fireworks that are illegal outside the reservation, knowing full well that most will be used illegally. The heroin dealer also claims that he’s just selling his product. He doesn’t control how it gets used.
John Smith
Snohomish
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