Another Fourth and Balloon Bursts on Another Patriotic Tradition

Tomorrow, when you’re hip-deep in Fourth of July hoopla, you might pause to reflect on the decline of that once marvelous institution, the American Balloon.

In simpler times, no decent Independence Day parade or picnic was complete without scads of helium-filled balloons (red, white and blue, naturally) that were released to the heavens.

Carol Ann Dunn, president of Balloonatiks, San Diego’s top balloon company, remembers the old days.

Balloons at groundbreakings and grand openings, balloons at political rallies (Pete Wilson adored balloons), 20,000 balloons set adrift each year at the Chargers’ home opener.

On one glorious day in 1986, Balloonatiks launched 240,000 balloons from 20 shopping malls, a fund-raiser for St. Vincent de Paul’s.

“Everybody loved balloons in those days,” Dunn sighs.

No more.

Releasing balloons has acquired the social stigma of dumping toxic waste on a children’s playground or stuffing asbestos in the attic of your neighbor’s house.

Environmental groups say the globs of latex that rain down when the balloons explode can be fatal to wildlife. Four states have laws restricting balloon launches.

The balloon industry, suffering a 30% decline in sales, calls it balloon hysteria. Balloon lobbyists also say latex balloons are unfairly lumped with Mylar balloons, those metallic balloons that can cause power outages if they hit utility lines.

Two years ago, the San Diego County government banned balloon launching from county property.

Politicians now shun balloons. (A Wilson fund-raiser next week will be virtually balloon-less.) The San Diego Zoo last year stopped selling balloons. (A zoo spokesman says there is no record of an animal dying from eating a balloon, although balloon bits have been found inside animals.)

The San Diego Arthritis Foundation, whose fall fund-raiser always had thousands of balloons, will no longer use them. The Chargers are rethinking their balloon policy.

Dunn has had to lay off 20 of her 30 employees. These days, a launch of 20 balloons is a big deal.

“I still think of balloons as beautiful,” Dunn says, “but I guess I’m prejudiced.”

Just Making Sure

Seen and heard.

* Your Government at Work.

The San Diego County district attorney’s office just got a state grant for its major narcotics unit.

As part of the language that accompanies all grants, the state extracted a pledge from the D.A.’s drug-busting unit to henceforth provide a “drug-free workplace.”

“Silly us,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Holman, “that’s what we thought we were already doing.”

* Your Government at Work II.

As the Legislature winds down, State Sen. Bill Craven (R-Oceanside) has had to postpone three birthday parties (he turned 70 on Sunday) and an appointment for oral surgery.

When a session went past midnight, Craven dispatched an aide to his Sacramento home to pick up his pain medicine for his throbbing tooth.

* San Diego surfer-artist Craig Stecyk, quoted in Rolling Stone magazine: “I have a random-access take on life. No clear overview of what I’m doing or how it relates to what’s going on.”

* The shooting at a Sorrento Valley electronics firm that left two employees dead and an ex-employee charged with murder sent shivers through the business community.

To calm jumpy nerves, the San Diego Employers Assn. today hosts a seminar: “Deterring and Dealing With Workplace Crisis Situations.”

Security will be tight.

The Proud, the Few, the Profane

A few good manners.

The Camp Pendleton newspaper is scolding Marines just back from Operation Desert Storm for hurting the image of the Corps by acting like “loud, profane jerks” while mingling off-duty with civilians in North County.

An editorial suggests that Marines turn down their boom boxes, clean up their language and learn some tact with the opposite sex:

“Nice girls prefer subtle flirtation. The only woman who appreciates a lewd proposition probably expects a cash rebate.”