Well.. I do understand where you're coming from. Your last post about the deer was sad. At the same time, if there's not a burn ban on and people are being safe, I like being able to shoot off personal fireworks. Again, my line is drawn at whether we are, for example, in a burn ban time period or have declared our county a disaster area due to threats of wildfires. That's what doesn't make sense to me. I've lived in places where setting off fireworks was banned because they could cause homes to go up in smoke. Fire aside, if someone is attempting to set off fireworks safely in an unincorporated area such as the county, I have no problem with that.

Whether or not you have a problem with this, Salon, does not change the reality this kind of assault has on our wildlife. This isn't about you, it's about them. You can live a good life without your own personal fireworks show. You can go to Granbury or some other appropriate venue to enjoy fireworks. But our wildlife has no other place to go.

It's a matter of choice, of sensitivity, of empathy and responsibility. We can chose to refrain from activities that have potential to damage our environment and wild creatures or we can continue not to care while we systematically, unconsciously eliminate them from our lives. Simple.

We will have to agree to disagree about this. There are lots of activities that kill or wound wildlife, either purposely or inadvertently. People run into deer and other animals and kill them on the roadside all the time-a car, thus, has the potential to damage wildlife but we still drive. People shoot guns off on their property and scare the fool out of the animals that are around but it's legal, at least at certain times, to do that when you live in the county. As you've noted before, even creating a subdivision, cutting down the trees and brush is potentially harmful to the wildlife. I'm pretty sure for myself that the neighbors that are clearing their woods for a fence have disturbed some raccoons who are now looking for food here. I don't disagree with you about the reality of what happens when anything that disturbs nature and the wildflife therein occurs, but it isn't realistic to expect that others will refrain from legal activities. I do think that since you feel that way, and I agree with you at least as far as the fire situation, it would be a great thing to bring up in public comment at at commissioner's meeting or ask for it to be on the agenda for discussion.

Eliminating the harm to wildlife by voluntarily refraining to participate in fireworks in wildlife areas is a simple, responsible choice that can easily be made at no great deprivation to anyone.  I've made it and I hope that you and others will, too.