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06/11/2008: "Fireworks Ban"

The rockets red glare, The bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our Council needs to be replaced.

We were not paying attention when our Councilmen voted to take away our freedom to use safe and sane fireworks on the 4th of July. Now the fire departments can breathe easier while our Sheriff’s department is tasked with the job of busting kids with sparklers. Neighbors can now tattle on neighbors for disturbing them one day every year with traditional family celebrations to commemorate the birth of our Nation. They will have the full weight of police power behind them. This is wrong.

We need leaders who will work vigilantly to protect our freedom instead of taking it away from us incrementally. We must remember that we are the creators of our own freedom not government. With our freedom comes the responsibility to use it wisely and safely. Islanders have always done this. We teach our children to do this.

We should also teach them the lesson of Independence Day so they will never forget where their freedom comes from. If we choose to illustrate this lesson with beautiful bright fireworks displays on our private property we should not allow our local government to interfere.

It seems like the leaders we have elected have forgotten about freedom. If they intend to replace our precious freedom with ordinances that continue to restrict it they themselves should be replaced.

"I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward for evermore." -John Adams (http://www.answers.com/topic/john-adams) quote from a letter to Abigail Adams (http://www.answers.com/topic/abigail-adams), July 3, 1776, referring to the day before, when the resolution for independence was passed