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Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Ind. Law - "Indiana's fireworks law is a blasted nuisance" [Updated]
"Indiana's fireworks law is a blasted nuisance" is the headline to an editorial published Sunday in the Munster (NW Indiana) Times. It begins:
Indiana's new fireworks law established a fund for firefighter training. They'll need that training, because the relaxed fireworks rules are resulting in additional fires to be fought.More from the editorial:Portage's assistant fire chief, Mike Bucy, said fireworks buzzed past and exploded all around him as he drove through Portage, South Haven and Union Township on the Fourth of July.
"In years past, there were always fireworks, but they were occasional," Bucy said. This year, "it seemed everybody was lighting them. Every neighborhood ... mimicked Iraq or Beirut."
So far this year in Northwest Indiana, fireworks have caused at least seven injuries and fires at three homes.
The old law was bad, no question about that. It made liars out of many purchasers of fireworks, who had to promise they would either take the fireworks out of state or set them off only at designated sites.Today the Times has this news story by Phil Wieland:The new law removed that restriction, allowing people to set off fireworks only on their own property. But it reclassified some more powerful fireworks to allow them to be sold to consumers, not just people who have been trained to run public fireworks displays.
Fireworks are illegal in Illinois, but Northwest Indiana is apparently an irresistible lure, because media reports on fireworks sales and use over the Fourth of July -- which doesn't seem to be limited to just one day -- showed images of people from Chicago and its suburbs buying fireworks in Indiana and attempting to set them off on the wrong side of the state line.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission last week quietly reopened the question of whether to tighten its regulation of fireworks. The agency estimated 10,800 people required emergency room treatment last year, up from an estimated 8,000 in 2002.
Indiana's new law won't help bring that number down. It also won't help the people and pets terrorized by the loud explosions that last until late at night on the Fourth of July and, in many areas, on a number of other nights as well.
The Indiana General Assembly should take another look at this law. The old law was bad, but the new one is worse.
VALPARAISO | One Fourth of July under the new state law was enough to convince Councilman John Bowker the law needs to be changed.[Updated 7/12/06] See also this letter to the editori in the Munster (NW Indiana) Times, headlined "Vote against officials who legalized fireworks."Bowker said at Monday's City Council meeting that only Porter's proposal to build a new hospital campus at Ind. 49 and Vale Park Road has generated more complaints than the fireworks. He said he agreed with a recent Times editorial that the Legislature made a bad law worse when it legalized the sale and use of commercial fireworks in Indiana.
One display he saw near Glendale Boulevard and Silhavy Road was as spectacular as the city's own program, but a woman who lives near it complained the street was left littered with fireworks debris. She was afraid to drive through it because she couldn't tell whether all of the fireworks were exploded or not, Bowker said.
Bowker asked if the council was interested in taking a stronger stance or trying to enforce the city's noise ordinance. City Attorney David Hollenbeck said the city is even restricted in what it can do about the noise because the law allows explosive devices until midnight on July 4.
Mayor Jon Costas suggested the council adopt a resolution asking state legislators to change the law. Bowker said he will work on one for the next meeting. He invited other councilmen, many of whom agreed with him, to join in the effort.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 11, 2006 08:53 AM
Posted to Indiana Law