Fireworks complaints spark rise in patrols

When Nathan Stephens was young, he would get together with his friends who lived on Trinity Place every Fourth of July and have a “fireworks war” with the kids who lived on Lincoln and Unity drives.

They would shoot each other with bottle rockets and Roman candles. The Trinity Place children called themselves the Trinitons; the Lincoln and Unity drive kids were called the Unitons.

The Columbia fireworks battles are still around, but, Stephens said, times have changed.

“It’s definitely more volatile than when we used to do it,” said Stephens, now 33 and a member of the First Ward Ambassadors. “Now, you’d think these kids were fighting in Iraq with the fireworks they use.”

In response to complaints from First Ward residents and the Columbia Housing Authority, Columbia police plans to have six to eight officers patrol city neighborhoods during Fourth of July looking for illegal fireworks displays and responding to residents’ complaints.

The increased scrutiny concerning the displays comes after Columbia police reported a 54 percent rise in fireworks complaints between Fourth of July celebrations last year and in 2003. During a 48-hour period Fourth of July weekend last year, Columbia police crime analyst Denise Shaw said police received 398 calls regarding fireworks violations. Police received 259 calls during the same 48-hour period in 2003, she said.

Columbia police Capt. Brad Nelson said police will “selectively enforce” the city’s existing fireworks ordinance, which prohibits discharging fireworks in Columbia without a permit. Many of the patrols will focus on central Columbia neighborhoods, including the corner of LaSalle Place and Allen Street and the neighboring area of Lincoln and Unity drives, he said. However, the special unit also will respond to fireworks calls throughout the city.

“In the last five years, fireworks complaints have increased significantly,” Nelson said. “This is in response to a blatant disregard to the city ordinance.”

Nelson said four officers will be involved in educational awareness for three days before the Fourth of July celebrations.

Doris Chiles, the executive director of the Columbia Housing Authority, said personnel on her security staff “felt physically threatened” during last year’s Fourth of July celebrations.

“Large fireworks were being shot directly at police officers and CHA security staff,” she said.

She said one staffer reported a lit firework being placed inside the gas tank of a CHA vehicle. The firework did not ignite the vehicle, she said.

“It got out of control, and it seemed to get worse as the night went on,” Chiles said.

Nelson said no one was seriously injured during last year’s celebrations in the First Ward, but one police officer suffered an injury while making an arrest.

Chiles said she met with Columbia police twice in the past 11 months to discuss the disturbances and is planning to write a letter to downtown Columbia residents to inform them about the city’s fireworks ordinance and how violations of the law are also CHA lease violations.

Stephens said the First Ward Ambassadors, a group of Columbia men formed in 2004 to combat poverty and violence and mentor youth in the First Ward, campaigned for heavier police involvement this year as a preventative step to keep central Columbia residents safe.

“We’re not trying to curtail their fun,” he said. “We just don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

A portion of this report first aired Thursday during “ABC 17 News at 10.”