By George Miller
With most municipal fireworks shows in the area canceled due to COVID-19 concerns, the private sector moved in to fill the breach. Do it yourself fireworks by residents have always been a problem in Oxnard, but it reached a new level this year. For the last month, shooting off fireworks has been a nuisance, but tonight it sounds as though war was declared.
Setting off fireworks can be dangerous, having caused injury and death in the past. Untrained, ill-equipped people using inappropriate locations endanger residents and property. In addition to being annoying to many, it also causes distress to people with PTSD, emotional /mental disturbances and to animals.
Show cancellations per ConejoValleyGuide.com: Fireworks shows previously planned in Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Moorpark (July 3rd), Simi Valley, Calabasas, Channel Islands Harbor, Ojai, Santa Paula, Fillmore, Woodland Hills, Camarillo, Ventura and Santa Barbara.
The city and police department have put out multiple warnings and even pleas to refrain from fireworks and report occurrences for enforcement action. The department took the proactive step of warning known and suspected perpetrators, to help deter them. They are using patrols, drones and informers. But quite evidently, it hasn’t stopped everyone.
OXNARD Police Dept Weighs In
Oxnard Police Watch Commander Baysinger told us tonight that this is the worst he has seen in his 24 years on the force. This is in spite of heightened efforts by the city and police force to educate, counsel, warn and seek informants to help hold it down.
He said they have 45 officers on duty tonight, including dedicated teams, have had numerous calls/complaints and that they have cited ($1,000 fine for first offense) numerous people tonight. He said this probably held it down somewhat, but he was unable to quantify it.
When asked where the worst areas are, he said all over the city, but South Oxnard and Colonia were particularly intense.
Thankfully, no reports of injuries had been received at 11 PM when we talked, he told us, but the danger level is high.
Baysinger pointed out that this is not restricted to Oxnard, but is a nationwide phenomenon. He said there is much speculation on why, but he is not aware of any credible conclusions. Some differences, of course, are the COVID-19 lockdown and widespread unrest in the last month.
George Miller is Publisher/Co-Founder of CitizensJournal.us and a “retired” operations management consultant residing in Oxnard.
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This always occurs in places where restrictive laws go beyond what’s reasonable: no effective deterrence (in fact the >opposite< of what the inept lawmakers and liberal-left voters intended).
Most lawbreakers give no 'damns' about restrictions – and the more legal restrictions there are, the more none of them gives a damn.
That's the irony.
I am sorry for the pets, but take away our beaches, our family barbecues and our fireworks on Independence Day, and this is what you get – full-scale rebellion.
It was the worst in years. We actually had to stay outside to comfort or dogs for the whole night because of the fireworks. It was so unreal, they never had it so bad. We have been dealing with this for over a month and I am so tired of it! I just want it to stop!!
Trust me, Oxnard sounded like a war zone last night. Poor, poor dogs. I felt sorry for the dogs. It’s really hard on dogs who aren’t trained to handle loud explosions.
It’s Sunday night and the jerks are still firing off the explosions