To the Aldermen of Jackson

I must comment, for my Father, on the recent decision of the Jackson Alderman to ban fireworks in our town:

A couple of weeks ago I had the great opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C. with our local seventh graders through a program sponsored by the Jackson R-2 school system. We were fortunate to go to Arlington National Cemetery and watch the Changing of Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I made it a point to tell these seventh graders that the only place I know where there is a changing of guard like this, in the world, is at Buckingham Palace in London, England and is where the Queen/King of England resides. The difference between their country and the United States of America is that they place such high regard for their Queen and we place our highest regard by protecting the resting place of a soldier, unknown in death, but honored through service to keep our country free. That is what the United States is. A country that values it's freedom that has come at a high price and I am proud to live here.

My father was in Italy during WWII, and though he was one of the survivors, I am his voice today. I remember his stories and his suffering along with his heroes of that war, the fallen. I can hear his voice in my head saying: "I did not fight in WWII to let someone take away my freedom or my childrens' freedom." Therefore, I cannot remain idle in the hasty decision of our City's Aldermen to take away the people of Jackson's right to choose how to celebrate the 4th of July.

I understand that this decision will probably be turned around. I call out to all Alderman to keep this incident as a reminder of what was declared on that 4th of July in 1776!

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government...."

Joyce Johns, Jackson, Missouri