Will state’s new fireworks law fizzle?

State officials have found their ears are ringing after the first Fourth of July with legalized fireworks.
After touring the state this week to tout the state’s emerging budget surplus, Gov. Mitch Daniels said Friday he was also confronted by voters who were lit up over the state’s decision to legalize
fireworks.
Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, a long-time critic of legalized fireworks, said he will sponsor an outright ban in the next session. He has received calls and letters from voters kept up by a barrage of neighborhood displays.
“This was the worst year, yet. It shows the stranglehold the fireworks industry has over the General Assembly,” Brown said.
Brown was able to amend language into the law that will require the Indiana Health Department to track firework-related injuries. No data has been released yet.
The governor expects the issue to come back before lawmakers when they return in January. He could back allowing local communities to set their own restrictions.
Daniels also made clear he still backs the legalization.
“The new law may need improvement, but it was improvement,” Daniels said.
The 2006 law lifted the smoke on a hazy gray market in Indiana. The old law made fireworks technically illegal, but widely available, by allowing fireworks stores to sell to customers willing to sign a form that said they were taking them out of state.
The governor’s support for the bill broke a logjam and allowed a compromise to come to a vote on the last afternoon of the session earlier this year. At the time, he touted it as a public safety bill because it included a 5 percent fee on fireworks sales, which will pay for statewide firefighter training.
Shellshocked residents, who may not have followed the bill as it snaked through the General Assembly, are questioning why the state opted to lift the loose restrictions rather than clamp down.
“Thanks to the new rules, it was bombs away, beginning as early as 9 a.m. and going until midnight. We seem to be living among pyromaniacs,” said Mark Ashmann of Griffith, who was one of 10 readers who challenged legalization in letters published Thursday in the Post-Tribune.
Jim and Gail Burnette, who live near Hebron, said Independence Day revelry got a little absurd this year, in the wake of legalization.
“Way more of those really big fireworks, the kind where you’re not sure if it’s a shotgun or a bomb or what,” Gail Burnette said. “You can say people are going to light them off one way or another, but it was never like this before.”
“We would prefer there to be some controls in place,” Jim Burnette said. “We would welcome that.”
But Christine Adamek of Wheatfield opposes any government move to circumscribe fireworks usage. The recent legalization was long overdue, she said.
“It’s fun for the kids, and people are going to do it anyway. The government has more important things to outlaw, like war.
“That’s like saying the Fourth of July is illegal. Let people be responsible for regulating themselves.”
Yet even supporters of the bill are taking notice of complaints. Taking a cue from the governor, Sen. Vic Heinold, R-Kouts, said he expects to sponsor compromise legislation that would allow communities greater authority to regulate fireworks in their area.
“I’m seeing now that maybe this is not a situation where one size fits all,” Heinold said.
He has received no complaints from rural areas, where the nearest neighbors may be more than an acre away. But in communities like Valparaiso, people have complained about the noise and potential danger.
He said he was caught off guard. During the session, he heard very little opposition to the legalization, he said.
Rep. Robert Kuzman, D-Crown Point, who voted for the bill in committee and again on the floor, also issued a release saying he supported local control.
During the session, lawmakers did have the chance to add firepower to the bill.
Senators voted down provisions that would have given communities the option of banning fireworks or further limiting hours.
They also turned down an amendment that would have made shooters liable for any damage caused by wayward bottle rockets and Roman candles.
The law did make it a crime to knowingly misuse fireworks, with the penalty rising all the way to a Class C felony if someone is killed.
The bill passed with sizable majority in both chambers. Brown said many supporters were lured mainly by wanting to create a fire academy for the first time in Indiana, rather than desire to legalize fireworks.
While supporters of legalized fireworks, including the governor, begin to hedge as the sound of exploding bottle rockets is replaced by complaints from angry neighbors, at least one dealer pointed out that someone must be happy with the change, considering business was, well, booming after the ban was lifted.
“The majority of the people I saw shopping this year were families with kids and a wife,” said George Dovellos, who opened Firework Frenzy on U.S. 30 in Hobart this year.
Dovellos said he sympathizes with people who don’t want fireworks going off while they sleep. He said they could support tougher restrictions on hours, though a ban just wouldn’t work.
“If people want to use them, you can’t put everyone in jail,” he said.
Contact Steve Walsh at 648-3120 or swalsh@post-trib.com
Who voted to legalize fireworks
State Senate
Yes
Vic Heinold, R-Kouts
Brandt Hershman, R-Wheatfield
Frank Mrvan Jr., D-Hammond
Earline S. Rogers, D-Gary
Samuel Smith, D-East Chicago
Karen Tallian, D-Portage
No
Anita Bowser, D-Michigan City
Sue Landske, R-Cedar Lake
House of Representatives
Yes
Ralph Ayres, R-Chesterton
Mary K. Budak, R-LaPorte
Robert Kuzman, D-Crown Point
Don Lehe, R-Brookston
Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City
No
John Aguilera, D-East Chicago
Charlie Brown, D-Gary
Duane Cheney, D-Portage
Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville
Earl Harris, D-East Chicago
Linda Lawson, D-Hammond
Dan C. Stevenson, D-Highland
Vernon Smith, D-Gary
Area cities, towns react
n Schererville Town Manager Bob Volkmann said the council passed a resolution at its last council meeting asking the governor and legislators to scrap the current fireworks law and rewrite one that gives local government some control. “I don’t know if you ever want to eliminate fireworks, but there has to be some limitations,” Volkmann said. “People’s peace and enjoyment is being destroyed.”
n Crown Point Mayor Dan Klein said the city would look at its options if the law were to change, but he didn’t see much that changed since the new law went into effect. “I’m not convinced anything changed, you just don’t have to sign the sheet anymore,” he said. He said his office received a few noise complaints after the Fourth, but no more than normal.
n Tim Brown, Merrillville town manager, said, “We (town administration) probably received a half dozen or dozen complaints, some calls, some e-mail, but not that many, but I bet (Police Chief) Nick (Bravos) had a bunch of them. “We’re going to recommend changes to the statute, because the law they wrote is a 365-day law and that is where our concerns lie. It’s a little too open-ended.”
n Chesterton Clerk-Treasurer Gayle Polakowski said the town received four or five calls from residents who are unhappy
with the new law. “Most of them don’t like that people can have access to fireworks so easily
and that people were shooting them off for a long period of time,” she said. “But by state law, there’s nothing we can do about it.” It was brought up at last week’s Police Commission meeting and Polakowski said she believes the topic will be broached at the next Town Council meeting.
n Hobart Code Enforcement Supervisor Carroll Lewis likes the idea of regulating fireworks use locally. “It’s better to have a strict ordinance in place for extreme cases than not having one at all,” he said. The City Council however has not discussed any fireworks legislation. He said the city has responded to at least two property damage complaints caused by M-80s or a similar explosive device.
n While Burns Harbor officials said their calls go through Porter County, Police Chief Jerry Price said from his own experience, July Fourth was “like the siege at Khe sahn when I was in Vietnam.” Price, who lives in South Haven, said the fireworks there were “the most unbelievable, intense, and relentless. They started prior to sundown and went to 2 a.m. I hope I never have to see it again.” As for the new fireworks law, Price said, “My only question is, what were they thinking?”
n Valparaiso leaders were prepared to write a resolution calling for state leaders to abolish the law. City Councilman John Bowker, who initiated the move, said the tone of that resolution now will change. “Rather than demanding an immediate cessation, we’ll probably join in on the move,” Bowker said. Bowker estimated he was contacted by close to 50 people, be it in person, on the telephone or via e-mail, complaining about fireworks.