As a college freshman in 1973, I went away to a small college in another state. On my arrival I learned that girls had a 10 p.m. curfew. When I asked why, it was explained that the boys tended to go out at night and cause trouble. The school figured that if they kept the girls in, the boys would go home earlier. They were taking something away from people who had done nothing wrong in order to have an effect on those who had. I bought a bus ticket home.

Of course, that kind of injustice wouldn’t occur today, but I am reminded of it by the current effort to ban safe and sane fireworks.

It isn’t easy to enforce the laws we have against fireworks. Things that fly or explode have been illegal for years, but not much has been done about cracking down on them. It has now occurred to some officials that if they take away one last thing – the safe and sane fireworks that are legal one day a year – from those who celebrate our independence legally, then darkness will reign, and illegal firework activity will be easier to detect. In other words, they plan on taking something away from people who have done no wrong in order to have an effect on those who have.

There is no bus home from this injustice. Sparklers not that important to you? They’re not that important to me now, either, although they sure were when I was a kid. But this issue is bigger than sparklers. It’s about as big as the toughest civil rights issues we face today in the aftermath of sweeping sacrifices to terrorism. Where is the line in limiting the rights and enjoyments of those who live in a legal manner? How much protection can we stomach in the name of safety?

Fifteen hours, once a year, on the 4th of July – that’s what our island families look forward to with their sparklers and their snakes. In the spirit of independence we once embraced, I say we vote to reject the ban that would end these treasured celebrations and would allow darkness to reign instead.

Cheryl Mortenson Burkhart

Blakely Island