Monday, January 27, 2025
30.0°F

FIREWORKS: Brazenly breaking the law

| January 15, 2025 1:00 AM

Christie Wood’s proposed solution to our illegal fireworks dilemma completely misses the mark. She suggests the city designate areas where legal, "safe and sane" fireworks could be used by families. While that’s a nice gesture, legal fireworks displays are NOT the problem in our county, ILLEGAL fireworks are the problem!

People are brazenly breaking the law, lighting off dangerous explosives that traumatize veterans with PTS and family pets, while angering many of the rest of us. I love to see good fireworks as much as the next person, and love celebrating our independence as a country, but these people have absolutely no regard for anyone but themselves. Part of the problem is the availability of illegal fireworks for legal purchase on the Kootenai Reservation, and, obviously, part of the problem is the high demand for them. If the perpetrators were cited and fined, perhaps the demand would be curtailed. Law enforcement’s frustration, if they’re concerned for the general welfare and well-being of the public at large, which I hope they are, is that the person must be observed by law enforcement in the illegal act of lighting off these explosives in order to be cited.

A complaint by a neighbor is insufficient evidence, thus, few, if any, citations are issued in our county. Then again, if the Kootenai Tribe leadership prioritized the safety and well-being of our population over the great monetary profits it enjoys from the sale of these incendiaries, that would be a partial victory. Yeah, I realize there are other Native American reservations that sell them, and maybe the Tribal leaders could meet and come to a general, responsible consensus. And maybe a seasonal task force of temporary enforcement officers could be hired to identify law-breakers, enabling the issuance of citations, and perhaps save lives and property in the process.

DAVE SHELDON

Hayden