Getting fired up over midnight fireworks disturbance

Opinion

Discussion

July 13, 2010

THE VIEW FROM HERE

By JIM HARDIN CNHI The Zope Gazette Tue Jul 13, 2010, 07:10 AM CDT

Rockwall County — I’m so happy I slept through the neighborhood fireworks extravaganza on July 4 and 5.

For the record, I’m not talking about two different fireworks events. I’m talking about one that started late Sunday night and continued unreported to Royse City police — I guess — until after midnight.

When I crawled into bed about 10 p.m. Sunday, I could hear some distant booms from fireworks shows and some popping from the smaller, in-the-street firecracker celebrations nearby. No problem, I thought, and apparently I became unconscious a minute or two later.

I found out the next morning that I missed a fireworks display pretty close to home — like practically next door.

I arose at my normal time Monday morning. Wife Becky got up a little earlier than usual. When I asked about her night, Becky said she had difficulty falling asleep because of the fireworks that lit up the sky between 11:30 p.m. and midnight.

These were not firecrackers. They were the industrial strength fireworks that zoom high into the sky and make popping, crackling and sizzling sounds.

My neighbors doing midnight fireworks?

Surely not.

Surely yes.

I couldn’t confirm immediately Becky’s report of 11:30 to midnight fireworks. However, another neighbor said he was awake at 12:30 a.m., concerned about the show that was going on above his house.

Unbelievable. How could anyone be so disrespectful, insensitive, selfish? Surely, not one of our neighbors. I’ve already voiced that once and got a reply of, “Surely yes.”

As I was preparing for my morning run, I walked to a house on the street behind us. I had driven past this house about 9:30 p.m., saw people outside popping firecrackers and shooting off Roman candles.

Yep, shredded paper, fireworks canisters and other fireworks-related debris were scattered all over the street in front of their house. Then, there was a pile of debris against a curb.

My first thought was to knock on his door at 7:30 a.m. and ask him if he was responsible for the late night fireworks disturbance. I’m pretty sure he would have been very angry at me for waking him at such an early hour in the morning after a big party.

I would have shot back with a response about how he didn’t care whether his fun disturbed a pregnant neighbor and her toddler, numerous families with children, senior citizens, people with illnesses and the woman who had to sedate her two dogs because of their fear of fireworks.

I’m trying very hard these days to not respond to certain situations that may require an apology later. That would have been the case here because that knock on his door early on July 5 would have been retaliation. And I probably would have said something that I would have regretted later.

So, I waited. I ran by his house and then later drove by, looking for a time that he was outside. During one of my passes by his home, I noticed that most of the evidence was gone. He had cleaned up the street of most of the fireworks debris.

I will talk to him face-to-face.

An easy form of communication would be to thumb-tack this column to his front door. No. I need to show him — and myself — how civil I can be in light of what I considered to be a very bad case of . . . I can’t find the right word because I’m trying to be civil.

I will remind him that his home is in the city limits of Royse City. I will remind him that discharging fireworks in the city limits of Royse City is illegal. And then I will tell him that if he wants to intentionally break the law, go ahead, but make sure he’s finished by 10 p.m.

That wasn’t so bad was it?

The last thing we need is a neighbor poppin’ off about the law and a recommended timetable for his breakage of the law.

Who knows? Something good may come out of this. Becky and I may be invited to his 2011 Independence Day party to be the designated decision-makers of peaceful, safe, respectful, considerate ways to celebrate.

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