The 5Th of July

I've got a neighbor I was talking to today. He is one to listen to a scanner. I can listen to what's going on, if something is going on. But, I won't listen in general. I find it annoying to listen to the way cops talk on the radio, that's just me. That's not what this post is about, it's about what my neighbor was telling me.

I live in Transylvania County, which is in the state of North Carolina, which is a part of the United States of America, you know, Land of the Free, Home of the Brave. We also have a healthy population of what allot of folks call "red necks". Hence the brave and the free. And, as my neighbor, a flag flying Vietnam Veteran, said, it's the 4Th of July, people are going to shoot fireworks. There is a little bit of a problem with that. Not all fireworks are legal in the State of North Carolina, we can't even buy a rare hamburger. We can have a sparkler.

He told me that all night he listened to one call after another of someone shooting fireworks. The Deputies and the Police couldn't keep up with it. He went as far as saying they sounded as if they didn't care either. I don't always agree with the "powers that be" around here, but if that is so... I'm proud of them.

Now, Raleigh will tell you it's to keep folks "safe". Most folks will say "money", being you can buy a permit (I'm not sure of the cost or process). Personally, i'm more willing to say "control". South Carolina sells fireworks by the hundreds. And, yes, there is a story of a boy that went to school with my parents blowing an M-80 in his hand while coming up Ceasor's Head. But, South Carolina isn't setting up a temporary morgue every July. Why should we? Afterall, more stumps have been dynamited in the Mountains than the Piedmont.

And...Speaking of temporary morgues...I'm sick of people lamenting about "how dangerous it is" and crime. It ain't Baghdad people. No one is setting up a temporary morgue down town. You don't count how many family members are missing. Most of our crimes are fabricated crimes. We incarcerate more people per capita than China. Go ahead, look it up yourself. I won't link it so you don't depend on my information.

Now, back to fireworks. North Carolina is a state and will do dumb, political things. But, calling the law over someone shooting fireworks on the 4Th of July is just plain nanny minded busy bodiness. Some folks don't know what to do but shoot fireworks and fly flags. I'm not going to rain on their parade.

I know I've put this video up before. I'm doing it again. It shows what it was like to stand up to disciplined British Red Coats face to face, toe to toe. We get our ass handed to us here. We got our ass handed to us allot. Yet, we kept at it. It paid off in time.


Beat your drum on the 4Th, fight on the 5Th.
The Appalachianist