Editor,

I’m writing to add on to what Gloria Koll had to say in her recent letter to the editor about the banning of fireworks in Island County.

Whether fireworks are illegal or not, they constitute a grave fire danger. What isn’t being addressed in all the banter is the fact that there is an ordinance against any fireworks being shot off in any Island County park. That ordinance has been just ignored over the years, but the fact remains it is illegal to discharge fireworks in our County parks. And where do people rush to in order to shoot off their fireworks? Right to the parks.

In Maxwelton Park this year there was not only the problem of the very, dry ground cover and trees, there was a very high tide that kept most of the people off the shoreline. The majority lit off their mostly illegal fireworks right in the park on the baseball field, shooting them off over all that dry grass, over all the parked cars, and the park was filled to capacity, and over the neighboring houses. They actually set fire to the ball field, but got it out before it got too big. The next morning neighbors cleaned up the mess left behind and filled two large trailers with the mess, which were mostly illegal fireworks brought to the island not sold at local stands.

If Sheriff Mark Brown has the legal right to ban any fires he certainly has the right to ban fireworks that certainly are a threat to start fires.

JOE MORGAN

Clinton