Interesting Link

Found a new entry on our on-line petition/opinion poll yesterday. What's interesting is that the site advocates a total ban of all fireworks! Also interesting is its advocacy of laser shows to replace public fireworks displays. It certainly is something to think about. Check it out at http://www.backcountryattitude.com/toxic_fireworks.html. Later . . .

PRELIMINARY Petition Signature Totals

In preparation for the launch of our Bellingham Initiative No. 2012-01 petition, 500 copies were printed.  Between January 12th and July 11th, 254 petitions were used to gather signatures. All but 16 have been accounted for and, pending receipt of these, we can report a PRELIMINARY total of 3208 signatures. As reported earlier, this is not enough to get Bellingham Initiative No. 2012-01 on the November ballot as Proposition No. 1. However, this total has attracted the attention of members of City government. At the direction of Mayor Kelli Linville, City staff is addressing the fact that Bellingham has a fireworks problem that needs to be dealt with. In a community which was suffering "petition fatigue" - the one about coal and the one about increasing to number of Port Commissioners as well as ours about fireworks - and with only about 25 volunteers and minimal expenditures, we should be very proud of what we have accomplished. Later . . .

Mayor's Report to City Council on August 6th, 2012

Per published minutes of the August 6th, 2012 meeting of the Bellingham City Council, the Mayor's Report portion of the minutes documented that "Mayor Linville notifed Council of meetings and direction to staff regarding fireworks, which include: reviewing Spokane's laws and results; education and marketing and fire and police emphasis patrols."  As in the posting below, keep "tuned in" to this website as this process continues. 

Spokane Press Conference

There has been a fireworks ban in Spokane for 20-years. The link below is to a YouTube presentation of a press conference given in late June of this year regarding this ban.

The link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHBoR_YJfG8&list=UUchSHbVFw3KbQOEFojE_s-g&index=1&feature=plcp.

Bellingham needs to do exactly the same thing that Spokane did 2-decade ago. Seems like a "no-brainer" to me! Later . . .

So, the Process Continues

This evening's Council Meeting confirmed that the City's fireworks problems will in fact be addressed. Mayor Kelly Linville explained, during her report to the Council, that she has directed Assistant City Attorney James Erb to investigate ways that the fireworks situation can be controlled by the City. This will apparently include looking into the history of the nearly 20-year old Spokane consumer fireworks ban. As I advised in my earlier posting, keep "tuned in" to this website for updates. Later . . .

The Respite is Over

After a nearly two-week respite, the Southside idiot - probably the one with a calendar-reading problem - set off a tremendous explosion last evening. It was actually considerably louder and shook the ground much harder than anything I've ever heard here. You know, this idiot might very well be the one who my wife saw driving a white SUV downtown recently with bumper stickers that read - and I kid you not - "Cherry Bombs for Jesus" and "I Love Fireworks"!  The former is certainly a new twist to the concept of "religious freedom"!  I just wanted to share this with you. Later . . .