JACKSON DOESN'T WANT FIRECRACKERS IN PARKS

JACKSON -- People who bring firecrackers to Jackson City Park this year shouldn't be surprised to feel a police officer tapping on their shoulders.

Aldermen passed a law last August banning fireworks from public property. Folks are welcome to light firecrackers in their own yards until midnight on July 4, but Capt. Robert Hull Jr. said to keep them out of the city park.

This includes hand-held sparklers.

People who defy the law will have to turn over their fireworks and pay a fine.

One Jackson woman received the first citation this month for illegal fireworks use. She shot off a bottle rocket from her apartment window prior to the June 20 beginning of fireworks season.

The season in Jackson is June 20 through July 4, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., except for July 4, when people can shoot fireworks until midnight.

"We had bottle rockets shot at people, and the board of aldermen said no more," Hull said. "Kids are kids, and we were young once too, but their activities get to the point where they're dangerous.

"Fireworks have a lot of power these days, and you can hurt somebody," he said.

The captain is working on a schedule for officers to walk through the Jackson City Park and to patrol the outlying areas by car all day July 4. He doesn't want the city's annual Independence Day festivities, attended by people from all over Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois, to be marred by injuries.

The Jackson Jaycees will conduct their annual fireworks display at 9:30 p.m. July 4, but they went before the board of aldermen months ago to receive permission.

Some towns in the area have banned fireworks altogether due to bad experiences. The devices can't be sold or shot off inside Sikeston's city limits, but neighboring Miner has become a haven for fireworks merchants.

Perryville passed its fireworks-banning ordinance in 1976, when perhaps people were most interested in their American heritage due to Centennial celebrations.

City Clerk Marilyn Dobbelare, who worked for the city of Perryville in another capacity at the time, said the main concern was safety.

Perryville's ordinance also bans blank gun cartridges and toy pistols and cannons where explosives are used.