Have a safe 4th of July | Corky Pickering
As I sat down to my laptop, I realized that this column would be published on the 4th of July, our country’s birthday. It is a day of parades, barbecues, hot dogs, and fireworks. A day of family get-togethers in the backyard. Although I wouldn’t want to be outside barbecuing since my weather app says it will be 113 that day. But I know that won’t deter the folks who’ve always lived here, who are used to all this heat. If they had to have a nice cool day, then they would have never known a July 4th cookout.
When I looked out the window and saw the winds, coupled with the 102-degree temperature, I couldn’t help but think about fire danger – and fireworks. I can’t begin to comprehend folks setting off personal fireworks in rural areas under these circumstances, but we see and hear them yearly. I’m glad my pastures are mowed nice and close.
I know that Tehama County allows the sale of “safe and sane” fireworks (whatever those are), but it’s hard to believe that anything involving fire would be safe in these conditions. Besides, I don’t think the humongous booms and fiery rockets in the sky that we see around here fall into the safe and sane category. After all, folks, if you’re going to have “fireworks,” then you want FIREWORKS! The kind I grew up with back in Ohio. Cherry bombs, cannon crackers, M-80s, bottle rockets and the like – the stuff that will blow your fingers clean off if you’re not careful. Capable of starting a conflagration in these conditions. And scare the living daylights out of many pets as well, so remember to protect your furballs. I’m lucky that Max could care less about fireworks. In any event, he and Kitty will both be inside, where it’s cool.
I remember training in Quantico in the summer when our three-day war had to be halted while we put out the fires started by our smoke grenades. The E-tools (entrenching tools, i.e. folding shovels) were flailing like crazy – but we finally got them out. It’s hard to believe that once you cross Cottonwood Creek, heading north into Shasta County, that lighting, transporting, or even just possessing fireworks is illegal. Just one little creek between us. It’s like those wet and dry (alcohol-free) counties existing side by side in the south, where you’ll always find a place named “County Line Bar” just over the line. So all the law-abiding folks who want a tipple don’t have to travel too far away from home.
When I was in Saipan (CNMI – Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), I learned that they celebrate Liberation Day on July 4th. This has much more significance to them than the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress in 1776, as the island of Saipan was liberated from the Japanese around that time. I remember sitting on the beach, having a cocktail and getting up to inspect a marker in the sand. It stated that this was the spot where the Marines came ashore in June 1944 during the invasion. The island was secure by July 9, and the CNMI later chose the Fourth of July to commemorate that occasion.
I don’t have any special recollection of the big bicentennial celebration back in 1976, but I recall it was quite the to-do. A couple of years later, I even bought a Ruger carbine with “Manufactured in the 200th year of American liberty” engraved on the barrel. Have a safe July 4th, everyone. Enjoy the holiday and be responsible.
