Letter to the Editor: Fourth of July fireworks should be better regulated

Editor,

Well, the Fourth of July has come and gone. Here is my assessment.

The guys who like to explode things started early. It started in earnest on Saturday, June 28, with explosions coming from several places, and then every day until well after July. I called the number to complain about this, which was open on July 3 — a little late, and the gentleman took my information. I thought that this was funny since I wasn’t setting off the explosions. I mentioned that to him, and he just laughed. All of these explosions are felonies, and some of them at least violate federal law. Maybe I should call the FBI?

The latter point is important, at least to those of us who subscribe to the “broken window” philosophy of law enforcement. Basically, that says that local police will be vigorous about enforcing minor infractions because that will create an atmosphere that will serve as a deterrence to bigger crimes. Making people obey the law about what time they can set off “legal” fireworks fits into that scenario. I will be happy to debate with anyone who thinks that our local police can’t realistically find these people.

But, there is one other consideration. As I drove around my neighborhood on July 5, I noticed that there was debris on most roofs, and at least two houses in my immediate neighborhood had noticeable stains on their roofs. Neither house set off the fireworks that caused these stains. That means that the neighbors who were setting off fireworks trespassed on their property, causing damage to their houses. And they did so with the blessing of the city. Since trespass is also a crime, the city is complicit, and in a manner of speaking, is a co-conspirator with those who actually caused the damage.

Therefore, since it would be difficult, to impossible, to identify each person shooting off the fireworks, if I were still practicing law, I would file a class action against the city of Battle Ground for a roof cleaning for every house in the city that was trespassed on in this manner. If the court allowed, I would do it every year. So the city fathers and mothers would have to include money for this in the budget every year that they continue to allow this. I wonder how much it would cost?

Rick Hauser

Battle Ground