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County needs to give plan to limit fireworks a fair shot

By C.T. BOWEN
Published August 11, 2005

Pasco County commissioners need a refresher course in effective governing.

A half dozen years ago, commissioners fretted about the changing aesthetics of Pasco. They kicked around the idea of designating scenic highways to preserve some relatively rural roads from the ugly intrusion of billboards.

Part of the debate included the unveiling of a convoluted county map showing an extensive road network to be deemed scenic.

If that is what you want the county to look like, County Attorney Robert Sumner told his bosses, then ban billboards entirely. The only thing missing was the Nike swoosh to accompany Sumner's just-do-it proclamation. Commissioners, three of whom are still in office, followed the smart advice.

It is time for commissioners to revisit that strategy. Bombs and blasts, not billboards, are the culprits now.

For the past year we've listened and watched prolonged hand-wringing and/or cajoling about public sale and use of fireworks. The tap dancing that has pervaded this debate should end. Commissioners should decide if the noise complaints and public safety concerns voiced in west Pasco merit an outright ban on nonprofessional fireworks displays.

Pinellas County did just that in 2003 and the result has been a proliferation of firework stands here. Pasco issued 20 temporary permits for firework sales in 2002. So far this year, the county issued 69 permits.

Tuesday, commissioners scuttled introduction of yet another proposed ordinance to control fireworks. The proposal, which will be reworked and considered again over the next month, would prohibit off-site sales from tents. It would apply to sales of all commercial items from tents on property not owned by the vendor. The ordinance would not apply to fireworks stores in permanent buildings, nor to tents set up within Pasco's six cities.

Commissioner Steve Simon, the leading advocate of controlling fireworks, panned the proposed ordinance, correctly noting the sizable loopholes would allow a vendor and property owner to sidestep it by becoming twice-a-year partners before July Fourth and New Year's Eve.

Fireworks already are illegal, but state law is circumvented easily by signing an affidavit that the devices are being used for legitimate agricultural purposes. It makes no sense for commissioners to try to close the state loophole by creating one of their own. (As a disclaimer, I must note the offspring in our household and several friends ignited bottle rockets and firecrackers on our street the week of July Fourth.)

Commissioners previously discussed but discarded ideas to limit fireworks sales according to land use category and to require consumers to file a second affidavit with the Pasco Sheriff's Office attesting to their legal use of fireworks.

A year ago, we suggested the county enforce its noise ordinance before proceeding with a new law. But that enforcement is unrealistic, county officials have said, because of the volume of calls to the Sheriff's Office and the lower priority assigned to such complaints.

Well, maybe. But try that reasoning on west Pasco residents who now know the Sheriff's Office has sufficient personnel to prowl for illegal lap dances in the middle of the day.

The public complaints are familiar. They've appeared in letters to this newspaper and been voiced to commissioners. Fireworks are noisy. They pose a fire danger. People set them off at odd hours when others are trying to sleep. The season of Independence Day celebration stretches from mid June to August. But temporary fireworks stands departed the area after the second weekend in July. So, exactly how will a ban on selling fireworks from roadside tents stop the summerlong complaints if said tents are no longer operating?

Commissioners also should be prepared to delineate how fireworks sold in tents are noisier and more dangerous than those peddled from an enclosed store. They aren't.

I'm aware that banning fireworks will bring an emotional debate about patriotism and personal freedoms. Commissioners also will learn that sparklers, which can be purchased at chain grocery stores, are one of the leading causes of fireworks injuries among young children, yet nobody has complained about those. They also will be told alcohol consumption is a big contributor to fireworks-related accidents. Of course, nobody is advocating prohibition.

Commissioners also should consider the words of the fireworks lobby, which chortled that the ban in Pinellas proved ineffective. Residents can still get their hands on fireworks. True. They can come to Pasco or Hillsborough, Simon noted correctly.

The boasting might be the commission's best political cover to proceed. If lobbyists truly believe the law in Pinellas has been ineffective, why would they have any problem with Pasco following suit?

Reach C.T. Bowen at bowen@sptimes.com or at 727-869-6239.

[Last modified August 11, 2005, 00:43:15]