Neighborhood Patriotic Displays Past Midnight

[MineralMan]

My neighborhood in St. Paul, MN is generally enlivened on the 4th of July by homeowners who take the long journey to Wisconsin to buy fireworks that are illegal here. Several fireworks stores can be found just of I-94, east of the St. Croix river. It's an old tradition in the neighborhood to set them off for several days around July 4. Apparently my neighbors do not have calendars.

Apparently, too, they do not have working clocks. It is not a well-to-do neighborhood. I say that because one stalwart neighbor with an street number close to mine, but on the next street to the south, continued to launch his 4" mortar fireworks well past midnight. The sound of such fireworks, which are illegal to use in St. Paul, is distinctive:

Whump! (wait for it) BOOM!

I know which neighbor it is, too. It is the person living in a house that has a sign on its garage that reads, "Asshole's Neighbor," apparently referring to the person next door who shares a driveway with the fireworks guy. I think that removing the 's from that sign would make it more accurate, somehow.

So, the dog hides under the bed, quivering, as the fireworks go off. But, this year, my patriotic neighbor found a new way to piss off everyone in the neighborhood. Starting at about 11 PM, after launching many, many, loud, aerial display fireworks, he began firing off one of his 4" mortar rounds about every 10 minutes. That way, his neighbors, who had retired for the night, would just be falling asleep when:

Whump! (wait for it) BOOM!

Every ten minutes, from about 11 PM to 2 AM! Now, people have complained to this person in the past. Some have even called the police, but they are apparently so busy that they cannot respond to drunken neighbors who are launching explosives.

Apparently, in his zeal for sticking his filthy thumb in his neighbors' eyes, he has discovered an ideal way to destroy their sleep for at least three hours on the 4th of July.

A very clever person, indeed, he is...A Trump voter, too, based on his campaign signs from 2016. How proud he must be!

[Siwsan]

1. Ugh!! I lucked out, this year (so far, anyway).

The most offensive neighbor, who is right across the street, didn't set any off. Of course, there's always tonight. He keeps firing things off for hours and aims them directly over my house and yard and leaves a major mess for me to clean up. He's an unstable law enforcement employee, scary as hell, so I am not going to confront him.

I had my oscillating sprinkler all set to run over my side yard, last night, hopefully to mitigate the danger of him setting my property on fire. I'm leaving it out, just in case he is waiting until tonight.

Another neighbor was setting off some pretty impressive fireworks but it was a reasonable hour and a reasonable length of time.

Personally, I think it should be illegal to set off pyrotechnics in neighborhoods.

[MineralMan]

4. Those fireworks are definitely illegal where I live.

The police don't respond. I suppose that's because they don't want to confront drunks after midnight on the 4th. So, the law doesn't stop anyone from using those illegal and dangerous fireworks.

The fireworks stores in Wisconsin, however, are quite pleased with the non-enforcement.

A few years ago, I visited one of the stores. I estimate that the person I'm talking about spent well over $1000 on his explosives. I'm equally sure that he had a handgun in a holster on his person while setting them off. That's probably why the cops want nothing to do with those folks.

[Siwsan]

9. A young man in Flint was rushed to the ER, last night

I don't know much about fireworks but I think it was a mortar that blew up, gashing his head.

To be honest, while I love watching fireworks, I'm at the point in my life where I'd rather watch fireflies.

[MineralMan]

14. Hmm...he could have been standing there looking at it

and thinking "Why didn't it go off?" Not uncommon. I hope he recovers.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

2. take heart

Usually, there are lots of whumps, whistles, and booms around here. The rain ended before sunset and the big, professional fireworks shows could be heard in the distance at nearly every point of the compass. However, all the big noise ended by 10 pm. It was not normal.

[HAB911]

3. Spent shells all over my driveway and roof

booms til midnight, in a state where all fireworks are illegal

https://www.gainesville.com/news/20190703/fireworks-are-big-business---and-illegal-in-florida/3

[MineralMan]

6. It's the same in many places.

Fortunately, my immediate neighbors don't take part of it, so I don't have debris to clean up.

[Hekate]

5. I would be soooo tempted to modify his sign...

But between security cams and gun-nuts, I doubt I'd have the nerve.

[MineralMan]

7. Oh, I've thought of doing that many times.

But, I suspect he's also a 2nd Amendment sort of guy, so I'm not willing to take the risk.

[riverwalker]

8. I get the freaking bonfires

Finally get to open windows after a long Minnesota winter and local pyros whose houses must be sealed up, always start bonfires with green ass wood that smoulders and pollute the whole neighborhood.

[Hekate]

10. It was Just Not Done much in my old town, due to extreme fire danger. We had a couple of public...

...displays. One out by the harbor and another 10 miles away in a sports field. Picnics and all. One year in the worst of the drought I think they got canceled.

So I was a bit surprised last night, while visiting the in-laws, to see and hear a bunch of neighbors lighting up the night. There was also a really nice public show held on the grounds of the college, that we could easily see from the street corner, no driving involved. Very nice.

I remember the excitement of being a little kid and having sparklers to run around with on the Fourth. The various neighbors with their once a year explosive treats. Zowie. But nobody, thank gods, as antisocial as your neighbor.

[Takket]

11. It was oddly quiet where I am

Usually lots of locals but I only heard a few booms around 10pm in the distance.

Suburban Detroit area

[llmart]

12. Glad to know it's not only my state that has these idiots.

They waste their money on blowing things up. They're almost always men. Why is that? If they want to blow things up, I say send them to a war zone. I'd wager a bet that most of them never served in the military. They're always immature, stupid and usually drinking. What a great combination.

My wonderful doggie died less than a year ago, and I'm so glad I no longer have to spend the night with her shivering in fear.

[SouthernProgressive]

13. I know my neighbors will be shooting off mortar rounds until the wee hours of the morning....

On the fourth of July. I'm over forty and it's the way it has always been.

Ending at 2 am seems pretty reasonable for the fourth.

[Vinca]

15. It used to be that way where we live, but the town finally passed an ordinance about fireworks

and there's been a vast improvement. I don't mind them on the holiday itself (luckily they stopped at 11 p.m. here), but with a fireworks store about a mile away we used to be subjected to them on a daily basis in warm weather. Very annoying.