AUGUSTA, Maine — A bill making it easier for law enforcement to charge people who are using fireworks without regard for their neighbors gained surprising support from a Maine fireworks retailer Monday.
Sponsored by Sen. Chris Johnson, D-Somerville, the proposed legislation, LD 302, makes it clear in state law that a person using fireworks to create a nuisance or disturbance could be charged under Maine’s disorderly conduct law.
Among those testifying Monday in favor of the bill during a Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee hearing was Phillip Silverman, a regional manager for Phantom Fireworks, which operates fireworks stores in Holden and Scarborough. He said the bill makes sense as it allows police and other law enforcement to consider each fireworks complaint on a case-by-case basis.
Silverman earlier spoke against bills that would have required fireworks users to be a certain minimum distance from livestock. One bill proposed 1,000 foot setback while another suggested those using fireworks be at least a quarter-mile from a farm.
“Rather than imposing a large arbitrary border around certain properties, this gives law enforcement discretion to assess on a case-by-case basis whether an individual’s use of consumer fireworks is unreasonable under the circumstances,” Silverman said. “This sort of fact-specific approach, we believe, can capture the problems being faced by Maine livestock owners as well as a variety of other situations where fireworks are being misused.”
Silverman said his company makes a concerted effort to promote respectful use of fireworks. He also said his company wouldn’t be opposed to adding language to Johnson’s bill that makes it clear that those who fail to clean up the debris from a fireworks display could be fined for littering.
Earlier in the day, the committee heard from Maine residents who work with and own horses and other livestock about the effect unexpected fireworks displays have had on their animals.
Also testifying Monday was Paul Daiute, a Vietnam war veteran who treated combat wounded military and civilians as a Navy corpsman. Daiute supported the law change being offered by Johnson.
Daiute, a Hallowell resident, spends the summer at his cottage on Damariscotta Lake in Nobleboro. He said until Maine legalized consumer fireworks his cottage setting, it “used to be very peaceful.”
“For 40 years I’ve had multiple nightmares and battle dreams brought on by the stresses of the news, and with the passing of the legislation that allowed fireworks, I’ve had horrific dreams that are triggered by the fireworks around the lake,” Daiute said.
He said he was ashamed and embarrassed to even talk about his situation, but he eventually brought himself to talk to his neighbors and ask them if they would notify him before they shot off fireworks so he could leave his property with his dog during their displays. He said most of his neighbors on the lake have been very good about notifying him.
“We have three cottages behind us that are rental properties, and everybody seems to have to celebrate coming to the lake and leaving the lake by firing the fireworks,” Daiute said.
“I don’t know how you legislate to protect people like me,” Daiute said, explaining to lawmakers how much embarrassment he feels when asking people to stop using fireworks because they trigger his anxieties.
Johnson said current law allows towns and cities to set their own rules for fireworks on a person’s private property, including times of use. Beyond that, the law doesn’t spell out what constitutes misuse and abuse, he said.
“It creates a presumption that any use within those times and property restrictions is lawful,” Johnson said. “And that’s the crux of the problem, with trying to expect law enforcement officers to do something about noise and repeated problems, where the users of consumer fireworks are not respectful of their neighbors.”
Johnson’s bill also makes it clear in state law that when the governor issues an outdoor fire ban, it also would apply to fireworks.
Another bill, LD 149, offered by state Rep. Fran Head, R-Bethel, would require those who set off fireworks within 0.25 miles of a farm with livestock including poultry, to first have consent of the farm’s owner.
That measure also prohibits a fireworks user from allowing the debris from fireworks to land on the property of another individual who has not given consent.
State Rep. Michel Lajoie, D-Lewiston, also offered a bill, LD 459, that would spell out that the debris from fireworks was litter and that users could be fined for not cleaning it up following a display.
Benjamin Redmond, a Durham resident, Marine Corps veteran and Maine Guide, said he has increasingly noticed fireworks debris on boat landings, beaches and in the waters where he brings clients to fish.
“Driving here, if I stop at Dunkin’ Donuts and bought a cup of coffee that comes in a Styrofoam cup with a plastic lid … if I discard it … I’m going to get a fine that ranges between a minimum of $100 to a maximum of $500 for litter,” Redmond said. “But if it’s got a fuse on it … and I go out on the end of my dock on the lake and I light that fuse, I don’t have to worry about it once it leaves the ground. I don’t have worry about that trash at all.”
The group of bills will face additional committee scrutiny in the days ahead before going to the full Legislature for a vote later this year.