(WJBK) -
It's
a beautiful star-lite night, your bedroom window permits the serene flow of
a soft summer breeze and outside as the moon comes over the mountain you hear
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.
Welcome
to Pure Michigan.
And
the Mayor of Warren would call it "pure" something else. He's on a one-person
crusade to challenge the state's new and highly successful law permitting the
sale of "real" fireworks.
"The
sales have been phenomenal," boasts the law's chief sponsor Rep. Harold Hough
(D-Roseville.) He, along with the industry, has been trying for years to give you
an alternative to smuggling this stuff in from Ohio
and Indiana.
But
some local governments are increasingly taking a dim view of fireworks
enthusiasts setting off their goodies at all hours of the night and in Warren
they are not only trying to curtail those hours, they're taking a shot at
exploding the law.
"This
is not what I intended," laments Rep. Hough himself a former mayor and very
sensitive to the needs of local residents. Yet he thinks Mayor Jim Fouts is
going a step too far by restricting the use of fireworks. His Honor would
outlaw them 200 feet from a home, a vehicle, a bush or a tree which leaves
the middle of Lake St. Clair for setting them
off.
The
new state law says local governments cannot slap any restrictions on the hours
or areas for usage the day before, the day of a national holiday and the day
after. But, Mr. Fouts is thumbing his nose at that, too.
After
all he did label the law a "monstrosity."
For
his part Gov. Rick Snyder says, "Let's not jump to conclusions … It is
appropriate to listen to the community and go through the holiday" and then
evaluate what, if anything, needs to be corrected.
Mayor
Fouts. Are ya listening?
