It’s a loud, showy holiday by design

I am writing in response to County Councilman Mike Cooper’s proposal to ban the use of fireworks in unincorporated Snohomish County.

John Adams, one of the founding fathers, Washington’s vice president and the second president of the United States, assisted Thomas Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence. He wrote on the Third of July 1776 concerning the Declaration, “It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.” And in 1777 there were fireworks. They have been part of the Fourth of July since the very beginning.

Now maybe we have come to a time when it is possible for a few men to forbid the very symbol of our freedoms, and there might not be that much left to celebrate, but I say, let’s hear it for the United States of America.

John Martineau

Lake Stevens