I voiced my opinion, along with others, about the Fourth of July fireworks on nextdoor.com in August and September.

Those of us feeling the fireworks were too disruptive of our lives shared how we felt. I then attended a meeting with Mayor Nancy Backus; Auburn Police Chief Bill Pierson and Officer Andy Gould; Dana Hinman, the city’s administrative director; and others. Pierson led the meeting, outlining how much the police have done for the fireworks concern, namely, the very loud ones that are set off illegally. It was an impressive response to my query.

What was most interesting was that apparently the Muckleshoot Tribe had shut down the fireworks stands around 9 on the night of July 4 due to lack of business since it was not yet dark. This compelled people to go to various areas in Auburn to shoot off the fireworks, instead of up near the tribal casino.

I left the meeting glad to have met the officials and to learn about the various effort that are being made regarding the problem of illegal fireworks. I also felt inspired to possibly contribute my own effort next June by handing out flyers to people illustrating the problem, noting the phone number one can call to report them, and recruiting others to do so, too

– Angela Helvey