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Ah, The Fourth of July, one of my favorite holidays. Not just because of the fireworks and what it represents to this country, but also because it is my wedding anniversary. This year will be the 20th glorious year, so Happy Anniversary Stacey, and thanks for the memories.
I jokingly tell people that I planned it for the 4th because it is red and marked prominently on every calendar, so I will always remember my anniversary. I also tell them that when I see all of the fireworks stands going up around the valley, I know that my anniversary is just around the corner.
While those things may have may have served as a sort of pneumatic reminder initially, those firework stands over the last few years represent other things as well. One is working in those wood and metal hot boxes for the youth sports groups the kids are participating in at the time. The other is the reminder of the onslaught of illegal fireworks that are about to flood the San Gabriel Valley.
A few years back I thought I had fulfilled my lifetime’s worth of fireworks stand duty when my kids left little league, but those parents with kids older than mine knew better. This year, Stacey and I are pulling double duty, doing shifts in both the high school football and baseball stands. As much as I would rather not be sweating there in the July heat, those stands bring in much needed funds to those programs.
As many of you know there are a few cities in the SGV that still allow fireworks, the legal safe and sane ones that are sold in the aforementioned stands. Rosemead, both El Monte & South El Monte, Alhambra, Duarte, Pico Rivera, Monterey Park, and Temple City to name a few.
I can understand why some cities, like Sierra Madre and Pasadena, not wanting anything flammable anywhere near them with all of the foliage around them. I mean that would be like the Scarecrow from the Wizard of OZ becoming a fireman.
Some of the other cities though, to me, it just don’t make sense not to allow their youth programs to get in on the green to be made from selling this incendiary dope. This is especially true when you look at someplace like San Gabriel, who doesn’t sell legal fireworks. It is almost completely surrounded by cities that do and it hasn’t got any more trees than its neighbors. Just as one example, Sunnyslope Little League has needed lights for their fields for, well forever. Maybe they could raise enough dough to get some if they had the opportunity.
If you think that my using the term “dope”, as in drugs, to describe fireworks is off base, you obviously have never been on the selling side of a fireworks stand. Even though you can’t sell fireworks to minors, parents, for the most part, bring their kids to the stand to pick out their fireworks. The expressions on the kids’ faces are not unlike an addict looking for his next fix.
 They pace back and forth in front of the stand peering through the wire mesh, pointing and whispering to their parents or friends. Most have a predetermined budget they must adhere to and are doing their best to make sure they spend every cent before they leave. The second the parents have made the purchase the kids quickly snatch the bag and hold on to it for dear life with the hopes of using some before the night of the 4th arrives.
Having been on both sides of that wire mesh, and at one point in time the same age as those kids, I know exactly how they feel. I was as much of a fireworks junkie as they are and my love of that drug has never left me. I will watch a fireworks display anytime, anywhere. That is with one exception.
That exception being the plague of illegal fireworks I mentioned earlier. As anybody who lives in the SGV knows, over the last decade the 4th of July has changed from a purely family holiday of shooting off safe and sane fireworks in your front yard, to a scene from a war movie.
It is the same drill every year. First come the warnings and demonstrations from the fire departments on the potential dangers of all types of fireworks. This is followed by news reports of those who have been busted with garages or even warehouses full of illegal contraband smuggled into this state from other states or countries.
A few months ago there were even check points set up at the Nevada border, where anything goes as far as fireworks goes, to attempt a preemptive strike. It was successful to a certain extent with a few people caught completely off guard. The smugglers ranged from everything from a dad with $500 worth for his family to guys who had motor homes packed to the gills with ill-gotten booty. While it made good press I am sure it will only be a drop from the hydrant.
That of course means that the war zone will be open for business as usual come Independence Day. Unfortunately, all of the people who are firing off these illegal aerial displays are not licensed pyrotechnic engineers, not even close. More like licensed drunken idiots who have no concern for their neighbor’s property. They are cut of the same cloth as those morons who like to fire off their guns on New Year’s Eve. Nobody’s going to tell them how to have a good time regardless of who gets killed, injured, or whose house burns down. It’s their party and they’ll burn your house down if they want to.
So do us all a favor in these days of cell phones, if you happen to see a rockets red glare and its point of origin, call the Sheriffs or your local police department, and report them. Who knows, the house you could be saving may be your own. And don’t for a minute even think that by doing so you would be considered a snitch.
If anything you would be considered a patriot.
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