Craig

Craig

BUCKHANNON — An Upshur County woman took her concerns about fireworks bothering veterans and animals to Upshur County Commission.

Jan Craig said the fireworks become a problem when the tents go up in early summer.

“In 2016, West Virginia enacted legislation that allowed fireworks to be sold in West Virginia and discharged in West Virginia,” she said. “I’m here to try to stop the fireworks for our veterans and our pets.”

Jan Craig compared the fireworks going off by residents to mortar rounds and said that veterans were especially affected by the war-like sounds.

“Each firework that is released is a mortar round to them,” she said noting that West Virginia has a higher population of veterans and some have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Craig said that people know to be prepared on July 4 but not earlier in June.

“June 21 it sounded like World War 3 up on Sand Run Road,” Craig said. “They were loud. They went for over an hour.”

She also pointed to fireworks scaring pets including her horses.

“Dogs have a different hearing level than we do,” she said. “Fireworks are loud. They are unpredictable. They pose a threat and they make them feel trapped.”

Craig said that she had a horse who ran for three hours in a stall as hard as he could run because he was petrified.

When Craig is aware of fireworks, she said she can give her horses Quietex, set up fans and be at the barn with them.

“I didn’t know to give (Quietex) on June 21 last Sunday night when the fireworks started,” she said.

Craig said she also didn’t have a problem with the city fireworks celebration.

Buckhannon has an ordinance limiting fireworks but it is not always followed, according to Craig.

Under the city ordinance, fireworks are allowed between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. on July 4, between 11 a.m. and 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 and between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. on Saturdays preceding Independence Day if the holiday does not fall on a Saturday.

But Craig said the recent fireworks that affected her animals were believed to come from the city limits which are near her property.

“The city ordinance is not being followed therefore I am asking for a county ordinance,” she said.

Craig said that Weston has outlawed fireworks in the city and is now seeking an ordinance that will no longer allow them to be sold in the city.

She said that Mercer County and the cities of Martinsburg and Huntington have ordinances.

What do we need to do to protect our citizens? Our veterans should be our number one priority. Our pets should be our other priority and just the sanity and calmness of Upshur County.”

Commission president Terry Cutright said, “I have a real problem supporting an ordinance that the state has passed a law saying that they can sell them and they can put them off. There’s a reason people live in the county and not the city and I think this might be one of them.”

Cutright said, “I don’t think we can protect the vets from everything. What about a thunderstorm? What about hunting season?

But Craig said thunderstorms are a different sound than a mortar round.

Commissioner Sam Nolte said, “We have a lot of people out there who like to target shoot. You definitely have a lot of things out there that probably affect veterans and animals. My dog does not like gunfire or fireworks at all. At the same time, I like to shoot guns as well because I have the right to do the same thing as they do. It’s kind of tough to draw a line in the sand with a noise ordinance or specific to fireworks.

Nolte said the commission could look at the issue and ask other counties what they are doing but he didn’t think a noise ordinance in general would be proposed.

In the meantime, Craig said, “I am going to hound the city to do their due diligence to stop it in the city.”

Craig said she planned to attend a Buckhannon City Council meeting in July to see what can be done about 2021.