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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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Cash-Strapped Cities Ditch Fireworks

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(Newser) – Some 50 US cities are so strapped for money that they're ditching their July 4th fireworks displays, reports the Los Angeles Times. "It came down to this: Did we want to spend $150,000 on something that would be over in a few hours?" asked the mayor of a small Ohio town. "Or did we want to use that money to keep city workers employed?" The move is hitting many residents hard.

"Good times, bad times, there's always been fireworks," said an unemployed worker who heads the now-fizzled fireworks committee in Abington, Mass. "This is one more blow in a year of blow after blow,"

O, say, we can't see.
O, say, we can't see.   (©OakleyOriginals)
Fireworks are fizzling in 50 struggling cities.
Fireworks are fizzling in 50 struggling cities.   (©Tony Crescibene)
Take a good look because you won't be seeing these in 50 US cities this year.
Take a good look because you won't be seeing these in 50 US cities this year.   (©CY_Hsieh)
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2 comments
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kokuaguy
Jun 29, 09 1:16 PM CDT
There is no doubt in my mind that these kinds of displays have a negative environmental impact and should be phased out. Reply
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cliver2
Jul 5, 09 9:28 AM CDT
OMG! 4th of July without fireworks? We have sunk so low that even our national holiday tradition of 'rockets red glare' is on the chopping block? Yea, I know, shooting off fireworks on the 4th isn't in the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights, but this celebration of our unique experiment in freedom is so uniquely 'American' it is sad to see it become fodder for the bean counters. Many may disagree, but since the 1980's this nation has seen the erosion of our essential freedoms, or the expressions of those freedoms. The loss of fireworks due to 'budgetary restraints' is a glaring statement on how the mighty has fallen Reply
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