Along with Bellingham residents Taimi Gorman, the late Clay Butler, and others, I spent several years working on an ordinance to ban fireworks in Bellingham. Finally in 2014, an ordinance was enacted that marked the end of the sale and use of consumer fireworks within the city limits. As a veteran of this struggle, I can attest to the twisted rationales put forward by those who were against the ban. The cognitive dissonance displayed was quite remarkable and is again on display with the commentaries of those who are opposing the Whatcom County Council's attempt to replicate Bellingham's success of well over a decade ago. 

For example, when I read about the testimony by a Deming resident regarding his support of the sale of fireworks in Whatcom County, I was stunned by the  effrontery. According to the Bellingham Herald, he stated that,

"...he and his wife have used the money they earned from fireworks sales to help support 24 foster children over the past quarter-century. He said he also supports local school groups and sports teams, helping with trips and academic enrichment opportunities. ...The last time I was up here, when you guys switched (fireworks sales and use) from a week to three days, that took 25% of our business, our profits, which consequently made it so we were able to help the community less...”  

While I applaud the quarter of a century work this couple has done in support of foster children and other child enrichment activities, I cannot get over the attempt to oppose the ban by saying that selling fireworks supports "good causes" while fireworks are manifestly the source of so much suffering among the populace. The ordinance proposed by the County Council outlines with clarity the negative effects of fireworks on people, animals, and the environment.  

The Herald also reported, without further explanation,

"In addition, representatives of the Nooksack Tribe wrote to the County Council opposing the new restrictive measure because of its broad economic impact on the Indigenous community."   

So are we to take into account that the economies of the communities that buy and sell manifestly dangerous fireworks are to be protected by not banning fireworks? Does your community really want to be known to county residents as the entity that promotes harm?  

During the debate on the Bellingham fireworks ordinance many years back, I wrote the following with respect to churches, some of which then depended on the sale of fireworks to support whatever congregation they represented. (Status of the Move to Ban Fireworks in Bellingham)

"To begin with, why is this child involved in the sale of fireworks?  [The photo below] appeared last year in several publications as preparations were underway for fundraising efforts of the Nooksack Valley Assembly of God, a church that is not even located in Bellingham. The assembly uses fireworks sales in Bellingham as a means for funding church activities. When I was a child, churches raised money through bake sales, bingo, and “casino” nights – all in good fun. That churches are now involved with the sale of these dangerous items and are having them handled by children seems somewhat out of touch with the spiritual nature of these institutions."

There seems to be no embarrassment on the part of communities that seek financial support through the sale of harmful products just as long as the outcome of their work is for the "betterment" of certain needy individuals, tribes, or congregants. This Machiavellian construct plunges us into an ends justifies the means argument from which serious ethical issues follow and cannot be ignored.

Yet another article in the Herald, from a few weeks ago, announced that "organizers of the annual fire-works clean-up efforts along Whatcom County beaches (large and small) were looking for volunteers for this year's event, set for Sunday, July 5th." It seems that local beaches, with views of the fireworks across the bay, are filled with "visitors" who don't give a fig about the environment. The one beach that did get cleaned up by volunteers, Locust Beach, yielded hundreds of pounds of trash. I saw nothing from the organizers and promoters of the city sanctioned fireworks display (the Chamber of Commerce and Peoples Bank) regarding efforts to join in, let alone pay for the clean-up of the mess that their event created. I immediately thought of Robert Fulghum's 1986 work, ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN. One applicable tenet in the book that applies here is, "Clean up your own mess."  

A few years after the passage of the Bellingham ban on consumer fireworks, I approached the management of the Bellingham Bells, a second time, with the aim of having the Bells cease their fireworks demonstrations after their games here. (Note that certain fireworks displays are, most unfortunately, authorized under Bellingham's Municipal Code 10.24.130 Fireworks). 

This is what I wrote at the time in an article titled Bellingham Bells - Firework Effects Are The Public’s Problem.

“Although they [the Bell's management] listened politely, they rejected my pleas to them to forego these events. Their response from two months ago was that the team management “recognizes my concerns” about veterans and animals but will continue the displays and mitigate the effects by notifying the public. (I’ll pass those notifications to the animals - Woof! Meow!) They feel the fireworks are a big family draw and the kids just love it.”

The Bells fireworks continue to this day. I hear the explosions from my home. Gotta keep the kids happy.  

A vote on the fireworks ordinance at the Whatcom County Council of June 23rd was delayed, ostensibly to gather further information, as if not enough had already been collected during Bellingham's debate on the matter well over a dozen or more years ago, or in discussions in the last decades all across Washington and the U.S. One council member was reportedly torn over the issue. All I have to do is look at the photo of the "poster boy" at the top of this article: There is no need to contemplate this ad nauseam et ad infinitum.

NB: Links to some of the articles I wrote during the discussions on a fireworks ban in Bellingham can be found below.