STANTON : Councilman Takes Aim at Fireworks

Councilman Joe V. Harris tonight will seek support from his colleagues for a countywide ban on “safe and sane” fireworks.

Only four of the 31 cities in Orange County allow the sale and use of the fireworks--Garden Grove, Buena Park, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana.

Harris will propose that the council write letters to officials in the four cities urging them to ban fireworks.

“We’re kind of poking into their business, but it is affecting the city of Stanton,” Harris said. “The risks of fire damage and injury would really go down if the accessibility were taken away.”

Harris also wants to ask the 26 other county cities that ban fireworks to join Stanton in sending letters.

Stanton, which has a ban, is bordered on three sides by Garden Grove, which allows the fireworks. Harris said it is easy for Stanton residents to get fireworks from Garden Grove, but he doubts that people would drive out of the county to buy them.

Some charities in Stanton have said they want to raise money by selling fireworks, and Councilman Harry Dotson last month proposed legalizing fireworks. “I’ve never had any problems with fireworks here,” Dotson said. “(Residents are) buying them somewhere else. Why not buy them here?”

Only Dotson and Councilman Sal Sapien voted in favor of legalizing fireworks. The County Fire Department, which provides fire protection to Stanton, has strongly opposed letting any fireworks be sold in the city.