The difference being : the city show is not illegal, his neighbors apparently were doing it illegally. You may think it's freaking out, but like I said, when your house gets hit by one of those and goes ablaze, you may just start worrying. If you want to have fun with fireworks, go outside the city limits to a location where it's legal to fire them and have at it.
I never understood why everyone makes such a fuss over fireworks on the 4th. Its the 4th of July!! Let people have fun!! Who cares if the neighborhood doesnt like it. People should be able to enjoy themselves and do whatever it is they want. Its only once or twice a year. Last year we had a big 4th of July party and we did about $400 worth of fireworks until way late into the night. Finally the cops came by, probably because they could see our huge display, and told us to stop. This was about 1 or 2 am and we still had one huge string of Black Cats. We asked if we could finish them off and she said to just wait until she was gone. We waited and lit them off when she was gone and we were through. Everyone had a great time and even most of the neighbors came out to watch. I have young kids so I understand but we would let ours stay up and watch. Just my opinion and obviously different than others on this topic. Not everyone that does fireworks are drunk rednecks. MR MEOWGI, I guess hell has frozen over, we agree!!
Maybe I'm not getting the redneck vibe - I don't have experience with rednecks but I do have that with NEDS. The Edinburgh version of them. I don't know, they do annoy me and YES I do have problems. I have just moved to a poorer area of town for financial reasons (and a slighly bigger place), and I hear them making noise quite often. I don't mind when it's on weekends, however. One night a week of some noise is fine by me, till 1-2 am. Not really that bothered. Got some earplugs etc. which helps a bit. So I guess maybe I'm a bit more tolerant. Dogs barking is something that is annoying, but this is something that builds up over time and doesn't have anything to do with an understandable event. To me, 4th July and New Year's WILL cause some disruption and I expect this. I'm not going to go crazy if someone is celebrating a holiday 1-4 times a year or whatever. That's why I said that maybe this has built up over time for rockbox but for the 4th July I think he should have let it go. Yes, maybe they should have stopped an hour or so before, but why make a big deal out of it on this one day? It seems like other people are also making "redneck" conclusions before anything else has been said by rockbox himself. Also, I'm guessing this idea that people cannot change, do not take the opinions of others into consideration, and maybe were ignorant to what they were doing doesn't exist in your worlds. Seriously, it might be against the law but it's also neighbourly to let them know that this is the case so that they have the chance to stop. If my neighbour just randomly called the cops without any warning, that would annoy me to no end. I do have the awareness that I will not always know what annoys people or wether I'm being a complete idiot and just missing something completely. It does happen. Doesn't mean we have to go around calling the cops. Just doesn't sit well with me. DoD, if this was against the law then yes they should stop right away. Of course if there is a fire hazard then it should not be done. However, I don't think this was the core of the argument.
By the same token, not everyone makes "a fuss over fireworks"... just fireworks that are fired off in residential areas at nutty hours and illegally.
In many localities it is against the law simply because it is a fire hazard. The core of the argument is not what I'm concerned with, but rather the fact that these people apparently were breaking laws and potentially endangering others. All this due to the fact that they're just flat-out inconsiderate. Why couldn't they drive out to an area where firing fireworks was legal? Oh yes, because that would probably be inconveniencing them... sorry. Whether they're "rednecks" or not is not important... they're stupid and inconsiderate.
I can understand the residential thing even though I feel like I should be able to regardless. We will have to agree to disagree but you have a very valid arguement. I dont understand getting pissed about the hours on a weekend because its only twice a year and should be fair game. Weeknights/worknights I feel should be over at a reasonable hour. No later than 11:00.
Well just to clarify my position - if my neighbors were shooting off fireworks on a Saturday night at 11:30, then I would still be annoyed but not angry. After all, I can sleep later since I don't have to go to work the next day. But when it is on a Sunday night (and the following Monday is not a holiday) or during the week (with the obvious exception being Friday) and this is being done at 11:30 or later, then that is different as I don't have the luxury of sleeping later like I did on a Friday night or Saturday night.
Um...you sure those are firecrackers you're hearing? For clarification, by 'rednecks' I just meant people who are inconsiderate. Those who are saying 'lighten up, it's just twice a year' don't seem to understand that these people were breaking the law. That plus the fact that we are in the midst of a pretty serious drought means rockbox did the right thing IMO.
For all those suggesting to rockbox that he should have talked to the neighbors first, I present exhibit A of why that wasn't a good idea: the overwhelming response he has gotten in this thread. How would you feel if you had a bunch of fireworks to shoot off on the 4th, and someone was asking you to stop? Many here (not in that situation) are giving me the impression that the neighbors probably would not have been too accomodating.
How hard is this to understand? If fireworks after 11pm are legal in your neighborhood, then smoke 'em if you got 'em. Otherwise, you're running the risk of drawing the attention of the local authorities. We live in a country bound by laws. You break the law, I call the cops. You can then explain it to them that you're a proud American that has a right to break the laws they are obligated to enforce, even on such holy days as the Fourth of July and New Year's.
Neighbors who let their dog(s) bark uncontrolled and who shoot off fireworks till 1 or 2 am, don't have enough common sense or consideration to keep things "in the neighborhood" without calling the police. My neighbor behind me had a party in his backyard once and several beer cans ended up in my yard, so when I mowed, which was the next morning, I put the cans on the other side of the fence ledge. All hell broke loose for a month afterwards as I woke up every monring and found misc. trash in my back yard. Speaking to him will do me ZERO good and won't fix the problem. I just make it a point to call the police out at least once a week regarding his dog.
Calling the police first is a chickens**t way out of the situation. It should be a last resort. It's a waste of taxpayer money for the police to come out and deal with trivial things like some kid not being able to sleep due to fireworks on the 4th of July. Police should be able to focus their time on protecting the community from real crime. I suspect that rockbox was not man enough to go ask them to keep quiet.
Right so we should immediately hire 1,000 more policemen to enforce the law that states you must signal while changing lanes on the freeway. People should use common sense when using police resources.
Agreed. What's chicken**** is to blame the whistleblowers rather than to take responsibility for oneself to abide by the rules or pay the consequences.
People should let the police decide what is the best use of police resources. If someone calls the cops to complain about weeknight firecrackers, then the cops can decide whether to follow-up on the complaint or go chase after other criminals.
