Police and fireworks scofflaws

[buzz1941]

Well, the folks next door have been shooting off aerials and strings of firecrackers and what sound like IEDs all day long, starting at 8 a.m. Police just drive by and wave. I thought this stuff was illegal. Do the police actually issue citations for fireworks violations? I'm talking big rockets and stuff.

[GeckoGeek]

The problem is that the police would have to actually witness the launching and who lit it off to actually cite anyone. But I have to wonder if they even bother with warnings.

I've seen at least two different places in my neighborhood launch mortars.

The truth is, I don't think there's any political will to crack down on it. It's probably going to take some more deaths before anything happens. (We already had one a few years back.)

[WindwardOahuRN]

The problem is that the police would have to actually witness the launching and who lit it off to actually cite anyone. But I have to wonder if they even bother with warnings.

I've seen at least two different places in my neighborhood launch mortars.

The truth is, I don't think there's any political will to crack down on it. It's probably going to take some more deaths before anything happens. (We already had one a few years back.)

We have MWD's in Kailua. Enchanted Lake region. Accompanied by rock music.

:::Nurse seeking to get naked and relive her formative years:::

Hahahahahaha. Lovin' it.

Ah, where is Bill Graham when ya need 'im??

[TuNnL]

I've seen at least two different places in my neighborhood launch mortars.Okay, let’s not exaggerate here. Aerial fireworks are fireworks. Plain and simple. And police have been cracking down (http://kgmb9.com/kgmb/display.cfm?storyID=10060&sid=1183). Like illegal drugs, you have to eliminate the source. Even if you caught a John Doe end-user red-handed, it would have little or zero effect on the problem.

[GeckoGeek]

Okay, let’s not exaggerate here.

Who is exaggerating? Google "Fireworks Mortars" and you'll get hits. They exist. The sound is different. A mortar has a deep "thud" as it's fired out of it's tube and a second or two later there's the overhead burst. A rocket is a pffffffft as it flies upward. There were at least 3 different sites in the neighborhood in Kaneohe that were doing "thuds". I ain't talking about the small stuff that launches a firecracker in the air. I'm talking about a "shorter" version of what the pros use. It must go up at least 100'.

And police have been cracking down (http://kgmb9.com/kgmb/display.cfm?storyID=10060&sid=1183). Like illegal drugs, you have to eliminate the source. Even if you caught a John Doe end-user red-handed, it would have little or zero effect on the problem.

Chicken and egg. If there are no buyers, there won't be any dealers. Unlike drugs, it's a bit hard to hard for the users to hide from the neighbors. On the flip side, if there's demand, then someone is likely to come forward and be the supplier. There are practical issues about going after the users mainly what the police have to witness to make an arrest. The most effective weapon here is probably public opinion. Maybe if a few more houses burn down people will change their minds.

[buzz1941]

When my lovely neighbors stopped setting off IEDs, they fired up the leaf blower at 3 a.m. to blow their trash into the street.

[tutusue]

Yesterday's fireworks induced brush fire notwithstanding...each year Makaha is relatively calm which is why I love staying home. There were 2 families on opposite ends of the beach in front of my condo. Each had what I'd consider to be a basic fireworks package...nothing that went thud or was loud enough to reverberate off the building's walls! I loved watching the fountains and hearing the kids squeal with delight. The beach was clear by 10p. At midnight the muted sound of firecrackers wailed in the distance ushering in the new year. That lasted about 15 minutes.

The best part of last night? No stabbings! :D

[buzz1941]

The best part of last night? No stabbings! :D

Happy New Year!

[LikaNui]

When my lovely neighbors stopped setting off IEDs, they fired up the leaf blower at 3 a.m. to blow their trash into the street. Just another reason why some folks favor capital punishment.
:p

[GeckoGeek]

When my lovely neighbors stopped setting off IEDs, they fired up the leaf blower at 3 a.m. to blow their trash into the street.

Well, you could do what my mother did many years ago. The neighbors seem to be getting into the habit of late night noisy parties. So the next morning, out comes the record player and polka music. :D The other neighbors figured out what was going on and had a good laugh.

[joshuatree]

Why don't the state just designate areas that can go crazy with aerials and simply ban it everywhere else? It don't matter who launched it, if it took off from a certain property, property owner gets fined. Simple and effective. Even if the owner didn't do it, how much you wanna bet that owner will make sure no more aerials go off on his/her property? Just designate open areas facing the beach as areas that allow people to light their aerials, you figure that would actually decrease the chance of fire too since they will now have to fire out to the ocean.

[timkona]

IED's goin off at midnight.
Rat-tat-tat of gunpowder burning.
Rockets flying overhead.
Smoky, burnt smell wafting through the air.

And you say that more active security, or a crackdown by authorities will cure the problem.

I thought we were trying to bring the troops home??

Half of you people make no sense at all, and actually consider yourselves intellectual.

[WindwardOahuRN]

Well, you could do what my mother did many years ago. The neighbors seem to be getting into the habit of late night noisy parties. So the next morning, out comes the record player and polka music. :D The other neighbors figured out what was going on and had a good laugh.

LOL---that's cute. :)

[buzz1941]

We had to go talk to the neighbors today. They cleaned up their yard by tossing everything into ours. So after we asked nicely that they "finish" cleaning up, they fired up the leaf blowers and blew the rubbish into the street.

In case you're wondering, they work for HFD.

[Lei Liko]

My neighbor's son in law must have spent almost $2K on fireworks for last night, and the majority of them were aerials. They were quite the spectacle, IMO, and we enjoyed watching them go off.

Son in law is a 12 year veteran of the HPD. A couple of his buddies even drove by in squad cars to wish all of us a Happy New Year.

The cops who patrol my neighborhood don't care as long as no one gets hurt and no fires get started. It's been that way for years now.

[Samurai123]

I'd rather have HPD focus on catching the drunk drivers tnat seem to come out of the woodwork on New Year's day.

[Linkmeister]

We had something hit our roof (the flat portion, fortunately, not the shake section) and shower our back deck with sparks. I went out to the yard and found something which may or may not have been that particular thing; it was called a Whistler rocket. It had a six-inch tube attached to a long stick.

It's impossible to learn where it came from, given the number of people shooting these things off in my immediate neighborhood, but it scared my mother badly.

Why can't the idiot legislature show some courage and ban these things?

[cezanne]

A friend's dad is a retired HPD cop... he laughs because sometimes it's cops selling or buying the aerials.

[AlohaKine]

Aerials are the most fun. Legalize 'em.

[GeckoGeek]

Aerials are the most fun. Legalize 'em.

Great fun until they burn someone's house down. That's why they're illegal.

[Linkmeister]

Great fun until they burn someone's house down. That's why they're illegal.

Add to the general irresponsibility of the shooters the fact that they're likely boozed up on New Year's Eve and you've got a recipe for disaster.

[GeckoGeek]

Add to the general irresponsibility of the shooters the fact that they're likely boozed up on New Year's Eve and you've got a recipe for disaster.

My favorite one happened around the corner from me. Some guys in a old house were firing aerials. And their like 100 feet from a high rise. One mis-directed flight and it could easily land in someone's apartment.

[Pomai]

So who's blowing fireworks tonight?

We've got a small arsenal of "paperless" firecrackers.

I'm willing to bet within a few years (or sooner) they're going to impose on them "paperless" fireworks with permit requirements. They may be paperless, but they sure do emit a ton of SMOKE. :eek:

A coworker of mine used to be a fireworks advocate, all for the right to burn 'em. Now that he has a newborn baby, he despises them.

The area in Hawaii Kai we're at is actually quite active with the aerial variety (who shot that?) lol. It usually gets a little smokey around here, but not that bad, since we're near the ocean, so the winds blow it out quickly. Hopefully trades will be good tonight.

[jdub]

So who's blowing fireworks tonight?
There is a nut (or nuts) in Pauoa with an arsenal of what sound like some serious explosives. And they have a lot of them. I've been hearing maybe 20 or 30 a day.

These things are LOUD. There goes another. And another. The things can't possibly be legal, and are most certainly IEDs. The lunatics setting them off must know what they're doing, because I haven't heard any ambulance sirens yet. How are they getting away with this?

[AlohaKine]

In the interest of safety, Alohakine says it's poor practice to;

-Ingite fireworks while wearing or holding them.
-Ignite fireworks inside your home.
-Use fireworks inside or in a vehicle.
-Discharge aerial fireworks from a moving vehicle.
-Place fireworks in a container such as a can or bottle.
-Relight short wicked fireworks or "duds".
-Play with fireworks when drunk or high.
-Engage in fireworks dares for money or otherwise.
-Scoff the law that it's a felony and risky as hell and make our own homemade fireworks to enjoy if you're still alive.
-Replace / reconfigure fireworks in metal tubes instead of cardboard. ( see above )
-Obtain materials / intructions online to make your own "professional display fireworks". ( see above )
-Ignite aerial fireworks where overhead obstructions (trees, eaves, wires, etc.) may interfere with trajectory into open air space.
-Ignite aerials while holding them and then throw them to "see which way they go"
-Ignite your aerials set on a low or flat trajectory.
-Throw non-aerials from height such as tall buildings to get an "aerial effect" without having aerials.
-Place multiple fireworks into a fire to "cook them off"
-Fail to read or care about the directions on the item.

So lets all avoid these stupid things and be safe and sane this evening. Mahalo - Alohakine.

[Random]

At times like these, we deserve to get hit with a North Korean missile.

Sorry, not liking fireworks these days, except if a 10,000 is wrapped around my idiot neighbor's private parts ... and I'm holding the lighter.

[Random]

In the interest of safety, Alohakine says it's poor practice to;

-Ingite fireworks while wearing or holding them.
-Ignite fireworks inside your home.
I'm sincerely hoping my idiot neighbors would do that, regardless of the idiots' age. (Yes, it is even more fun seeing pilau kids in pain.)

[AlohaKine]

For all these negitive fireworks comments, there didn't seem to be a boycott of them last time as was at a store that sold them. Folks were buying them up at a steady pace. Kids where setting them off for hours next to my girlfriends house but we just passed it off as youthful fun. I know I played with them as a kid, so how could I be put off by it now. Kind of reminded me of colorfull childhood days.

[tutusue]

The neighborhood noise is starting to ramp up with firecrackers. I expect it to be one heckuva lot noiser than NYE in Makaha!!!

Since I haven't purchased or had the urge to purchase fireworks since my kids were kids I'll admit I don't know what's legal and what's not! Just a few minutes ago several aerials went off on what appears to be a low roof top on Kapiolani Blvd. ewa of Atkinson, near the Pan Am building. Hmmm...is that the building that houses Hawaiian Brian's? I could see them from my condo. I should also be able to see the ATM fireworks...should I still be awake at midnight! Gotta get a good night's sleep in preparation for tomorrow's game and expending every ounce of energy my body's capable of manufacturing! :cool:

G O W A R R I O R S
[I](a little purple for good luck!)

[Honoruru]

I'm very ambivalent about fireworks. In my childhood, I loved them! It was what New Year's was all about. I even got arrested as a juvenile for setting off illegal fireworks (though it was a trumped up affair--a military family that was not used to fireworks who reported it to the police, much to the dismay of the local families in the neigborhood).

Now, I have a bad case of asthma that returned from long ago. I still love the excitement, the sounds of fireworks exploding, but not if it triggers an asthmatic attack.

[AlohaKine]

The neighborhood noise is starting to ramp up with firecrackers. I expect it to be one heckuva lot noiser than NYE in Makaha!!!

Since I haven't purchased or had the urge to purchase fireworks since my kids were kids I'll admit I don't know what's legal and what's not! Just a few minutes ago several aerials went off on what appears to be a low roof top on Kapiolani Blvd. ewa of Atkinson, near the Pan Am building. Hmmm...is that the building that houses Hawaiian Brian's? I could see them from my condo. I should also be able to see the ATM fireworks...should I still be awake at midnight! Gotta get a good night's sleep in preparation for tomorrow's game and expending every ounce of energy my body's capable of manufacturing! :cool:

G O W A R R I O R S
[I](a little purple for good luck!)

This is what state law says about aerials but it is hard to bust people because once the police arrive, if they do, it is very tough to know who did it if you shoot off only one or two and then leave the area.

"§132D-14 Penalty. (a) Any person:

(1) Importing aerial devices, display fireworks, or articles pyrotechnic without having a valid license under section 132D‑7 shall be guilty of a class C felony;

(2) Purchasing, possessing, setting off, igniting, or discharging aerial devices, display fireworks, or articles pyrotechnic without a valid permit under sections 132D‑10 and 132D‑16, or storing, selling, or possessing aerial devices, display fireworks, or articles pyrotechnic without a valid license under section 132D-7:

(A) If the total weight of the aerial devices, display fireworks, or articles pyrotechnic is twenty-five pounds or more, shall be guilty of a class C felony; or

(B) If the total weight of the aerial devices, display fireworks, or articles pyrotechnic is less than twenty‑five pounds, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor"

[Random]

I'm very ambivalent about fireworks. In my childhood, I loved them! It was what New Year's was all about. I even got arrested as a juvenile for setting off illegal fireworks (though it was a trumped up affair--a military family that was not used to fireworks who reported it to the police, much to the dismay of the local families in the neigborhood).

Now, I have a bad case of asthma that returned from long ago. I still love the excitement, the sounds of fireworks exploding, but not if it triggers an asthmatic attack.
It's karma.