Priceville resident pushes for fireworks rules
For the Enquirer
PRICEVILLE – A Priceville man has asked the City Council for an ordinance preventing people from shooting fireworks onto other people’s properties, but he seemed unlikely to succeed.
Josh Normand, who lives at 41 Jones Ave., Sunset Acres, told the council during their regular meeting July 22 he has nothing against the celebratory incendiaries as long as they aren’t shot all over his property. He said he was out of town over the July Fourth holiday and returned to find remnants of fireworks in his lawn, on his roof, around his shop and near the woods directly behind his house.
“When I approached the person who did it, I told him, ‘I don’t care if you shoot fireworks everywhere. Doesn’t matter to me. Just shoot them on your side,'” he said.
“You know what his reply was?” Normand asked the council and mayor. “‘I don’t want to catch my woods on fire.'” Normand said he was taken aback by the com-ment.
“That strikes close to home,” he told the council. “That makes you feel pretty bad.
“I’m all for (fireworks) as long as you keep them on your yard and your house, but when you start shooting them over other people’s houses, it could cause a problem. Without any kind of ordinance or something to protect those who aren’t shooting them, that’s why I’m here.” Although fireworks are banned in Decatur, Hartselle and Athens, they are legal in Priceville, Mayor Sam Heflin said. The Police Department’s Facebook page even warned people this year not to call 911 about people shooting fireworks because it is not illegal to shoot them. The department’s post read, “You should expect fireworks on the 4th of July.” Heflin told Normand he didn’t think anyone would be in favor of a fireworks ban. He’s a big fireworks fan himself.
“I put on a fireworks show in my neighborhood every year,” the mayor said. “I do it for the neighbors. But the next day, I’m out there cleaning it up. I’m going to their yards. I’m going to my yard. I’m going to the road looking for any pieces of fireworks that might have gone astray. I will say that sometimes it is hard to control where that firework goes once you light it.” He called it a “tough situation” and said he didn’t know how one would create an ordinance to control it.
“I don’t know either,” Normand said. “But I know I don’t like the fireworks coming over and landing in my yard.” He added that he doesn’t like that his neighbor “doesn’t have a problem burning my house down.” The mayor asked Officer Lucas Ferrell, who was attending the meeting, how he would handle the situation.
“The way it is currently, I would ask for some kind of courtesy because I have nothing to enforce it,” Ferrell said. “If they’re doing it intentionally, then it might fall in the criminal realm. But as it stands, it is a civil issue. I would just ask them to be a decent human being.” The mayor said he would contact the neighbor about the issue.
