SOUNDING OFF:

In his recent column (“Don’t Forget To Douse,” July 8), self-professed knucklehead Steve Smith goes right to the heart of the fireworks issue in Costa Mesa.

I have to give Smith credit. It took guts to tell readers of his boneheaded move that melted his trash can and threatened his neighborhood. It takes real chutzpah to think he can justify continuing the sales and discharge of fireworks in Costa Mesa.

I am one who feels we should stop selling fireworks in Costa Mesa and pass an ordinance that forbids the discharge of any fireworks. Several years ago a garage that abuts our property burned to the ground thanks to a thoughtless youth with so-called “safe and sane” fireworks.

I know we’ll hear from those who feel that shooting off fireworks is some kind of God-given right. We’ll hear from those who think it’s just plain anti-American to forbid fireworks sales and discharges in our city. We’ll hear from the parents who, in four days of fireworks sales, earn more than their entire year’s budget for their specific youth sports programs. Others will complain we don’t need a law to forbid fireworks — that we have too many laws abridging our freedoms already.

Things change. It was not too long ago that sparklers, a staple of Fourth of July celebrations in my youth, were removed from the list of “safe and sane” items that could be used in our city. The 2,000-degree heat generated by a sparkler, and the spitting of hot metal fragments that form the “sparkle” were deemed to be too dangerous to children.

My wife and I spent the holiday in a small Central Coast town where fireworks are forbidden because of the extreme danger of forest fires. The smallest spark could destroy the town. In exchange for that prohibition, this little burg puts on an all-day party at a local seaside park — with music, dancing, games, food and drink — and which culminates in a wonderful professional fireworks show fired out safely over the ocean.

This daylong party, sponsored by the local Lions Club, draws residents and tourists alike by the thousands and raises money for many youth programs — and keeps the community safe.

In my view, it’s just a matter of time until we have a person injured or killed, and/or homes destroyed by the misuse of fireworks.

Smith has demonstrated that even safe and sane fireworks can be dangerous in the hands of a knucklehead.

But, I’ll make you all a deal. I’ll stop writing about this right now if all of you who support the sale and discharge of fireworks will agree to attend the funeral of the child who is killed by fireworks in our city. I’ll get off my bandwagon if you agree to visit the child in the hospital who is severely burned by fireworks. I’ll stop if you can tell me that any youth sports program is worth the sight of a child’s eye or third-degree burns over his body.

GEOFF WEST lives in Costa Mesa.