To the Editor:
On July 17th, the Daily Journal published a viewpoint by Niki Kelly titled “Time to blow up Indiana’s fireworks law” in which she outlined perfectly the absolute corrupted thinking and use of Indiana’s fireworks law. I 1,000 times agree and support her position.
I have lived in the Park Forest addition in Whiteland for over 30 years and have watched as the Fourth of July turns my neighborhood into a war zone every year. Fireworks the size and type of which once required a licensed pyrotechnician to set up and use in appropriately sized spaces are now shot off by people in spaces less than 40 feet from their neighbors.
It is out of control and getting worse.
Four years ago, my neighbors directly across the street had a drunken brawl of a party that spilled into the street, and they started shooting fireworks from the street. When the burning debris and embers landed on my roof, I called the Whiteland Police and was advised they were busy trying to stop another out-of-control party where a firearm was being brandished but promised to get to mine as soon as possible.
This year, neighbors two houses down were shooting off large fireworks from the middle of the street and putting everyone’s property at risk. When I questioned the town via phone that night about what happened to the ordinance against shooting fireworks from the street, this time, the response was “well, we don’t worry about it too much unless they’re blocking traffic.”
What? Shooting explosives off in the middle of a street where the houses are separated by a two-lane street and 40 feet of grass is a flat-out dangerous and stupid thing to do. Presumably, that is why there was an ordinance against it.
Granted, Whiteland suffered severe destruction this past March with the tornadoes, and the town’s first responders did an incredible job helping our community. But four months later that’s no excuse to dismiss what limited ordinances there are to keep property and people safe. That mindset only leads to further deterioration of the civility that enables people to live in peace with their neighbors.
Perhaps the town board could draw their attention away from the great chicken debate long enough to revisit fireworks? And perhaps also bear in mind that when the law gives people an inch, there are those who will take a mile.
To be fair, Whiteland isn’t the only place where this happens and the town has been responsive to other complaints and concerns.
But it’s Indiana’s fireworks law and a “we can’t/won’t do anything about it” law enforcement attitude that makes it too easy to endanger others. One can’t help but wonder how bad it has to get before our local and state lawmakers start “worrying about it.”
In Whiteland, it will probably be when somebody’s chicken coop gets blown up.
Lisa Voiles
Whiteland
