By Chris Kirkham
The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
ST. BERARD PARISH — After a quarter-century ban, the St. Bernard Parish Council voted Tuesday to legalize fireworks sales in the parish despite opposition from the fire department.
In a 4-3 vote, the council narrowly approved the measure after making several changes suggested by St. Bernard Parish Fire Chief Thomas Stone. Despite the amendments, the chief said he remained opposed to the ordinance legalizing the shooting and sale of fireworks.
“I think we live in a parish that has a lot of debris in it; we live in a parish that has a lot of gutted homes still,” Stone said. “It was something that I thought might solve a problem, but now I fear it might create a bigger problem.”
Supporters of the fireworks ordinance argued that the change would present a new opportunity for tax revenue and give the parish control over what has become a widespread practice during the New Year’s and Fourth of July holidays each year.
“Fireworks are like apple pie and baseball, its all-American,” said Councilman Mike Ginart, who supported the measure along with Councilmen Wayne Landry, George Cavignac and Fred Everhardt. “I don’t hear ‘We should stop playing baseball’ because some goof on steroids hit 800 home runs.”
Landry added that he doesn’t believe the ordinance will drastically increase the number of people shooting off fireworks each year.
“It’s my belief that the people who shoot fireworks on New Year’s Eve and Fourth of July are pretty much going to be the same people who shoot fireworks if we pass this ordinance,” Landry said.
Fireworks have been illegal in St. Bernard since 1981, when voters approved a referendum banning their sale after a series of house fires in Chalmette on New Year’s Eve in 1980. The parish’s Police Jury followed up with an ordinance that made sale and discharge of fireworks illegal.
The plan allows the shooting and selling of fireworks from June 25 through July 5 and from Dec. 15 through Jan. 1 of each year.
Selling fireworks is allowed in unincorporated St. Tammany Parish, St. John the Baptist Parish, Plaquemines Parish and in some of the municipalities of Jefferson Parish. Landry has argued that residents are taking their money to other parishes and then bringing fireworks back into St. Bernard anyway.
The new law prohibits fireworks sales to anyone younger than 16 and requires a $1,500-a-year license to sell fireworks in St. Bernard. Discharge of fireworks is prohibited within 150 feet of any fireworks stand.
Based on several suggestions from Stone, the council added language that prohibited year-round fireworks storage in the parish and set a 50-foot limit for discharging fireworks from any building.
Copyright 2009 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company