The article that ran a few weeks ago in the Kent Reporter entitled, “City Council committee to study fireworks ban,” indicates there remains much to be desired regarding Kent’s approach to this issue.
I hope I’m wrong, but this committee appears to be an effort by the council to give the impression of working on the matter while planning to take little if any meaningful action.
At its first meeting, the committee discussed concerns such as how hard it would be to actually enforce such laws, the deficiencies of current statistics gathering, the fact that it would take a year before any new ordinance would take effect, the additional burden enforcement would place on police resources, etc. Summed up, they apparently went through a wide range of arguments they might use to dodge the issue rather than tackle it.
In contrast, there was seemingly no discussion of the need or a desire to act. Meanwhile, each of the above listed concerns is laughable at best. Do we not enforce our traffic laws simply because not every violator can be caught? Does the one-year delay issue mean no new ordinances should be enacted? And as for the concern about police resources, a little time spent by a few officers issuing citations in the vicinity of Lake Meridian alone would provide a significant return on investment.
The rampant illegal fireworks fiasco that goes on in Kent around the Fourth of July needs to stop. Is it too much to ask that our current laws be enforced pending consideration of stronger ones?
– Mark Johnston
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