I don’t believe Bothell should ban fireworks. My family has lived in this city for my entire life except for six years when we were overseas. My immediate family loves to buy cheap, simple fireworks from local suppliers and we only set them off on July 4.

Have we had some situations where our dogs went nuts with some people setting off illegal fireworks and not abiding by the July 4 only rules? Yes.  Have I called the police and to my knowledge they did not respond? Yes, but most of the time they have come through the neighborhood and taken care of the problem. Does any of this make me want to ban fireworks? No.

I love that I don’t have to drive through a ton of traffic and sit with a billion other people crowded around watching a local fireworks display. I love that our police and fire department and city council have enough faith in the community and each other’s services to let us have fireworks. I love that I can have a small BBQ in my yard, everyone visiting from cities with no fireworks can enjoy a few cheap fireworks with us and the bombardment of our neighbors across the street in unincorporated Bothell. And yes, in my house that sits on the border it does sound like a war zone.  Most people in our neighborhood love it, laugh about it, and wonder how big it’ll be next year.

For the Morrisons who wrote in requesting a ban on fireworks, I’m sorry you were shocked by the fireworks. But for those of us who love them, don’t wreck our holiday. There are plenty of cities that have a ban on fireworks – leave ours alone.

Keep fireworks legal in Bothell.

Brett Spore, Bothell