To the editor:

Year after year we are subjected to illegal fireworks in our neighborhood and our city. It’s my understanding that these kinds of powerful heart-pounding, house-shaking and frightening mortar fireworks are illegal to set off in the city limits. But each year we have to deal with it. Most of our neighbors have dogs and have the same issues that we do with their pets being scared and not wanting to go outside for days to have their walks and do their business. They cower for days under beds and hide from us.

I can’t imagine what it must be like for our ex-military men and women who have PTSD. If our pets cower and run away, what must it do to these people who have fought for our country?

City of Lawrence Ordinance 7594 states that the use, possession, handling and sale of fireworks are prohibited with the exception of permitted supervised public displays. City of Lawrence Ordinance 8802 amends the 2012 IFC Section 5601.1.1 (b) to make it unlawful to ignite or otherwise use aerial luminaries. I don’t see any where in the ordinance that high powered mortars are legal.

Catherine C. Williams,

Lawrence