This is a letter to the parents of the kids who, using fireworks that can only be sold to adults, started a fire at Lakeport Elementary School on July 3.
When you bought the fireworks did you immediately give them to your children or did you just store them in a place where they could be easily retrieved by your kids? Do you have any idea how precarious the entire concept of fireworks within the city of Lakeport is at this moment? Do you realize how very important this fundraiser is to the lucky nonprofits that get to sell them?
Do you understand that books, school supplies, field trips, swim teams and pageants are funded by the sale of these fireworks?
What about all of you who set off fireworks outside the city limits of Lakeport? Do you realize that you are breaking the law? I can remember a time when fireworks were legal in all cities in Lake County. Schools and other nonprofits were able to raise thousands of dollars to benefit their organizations. One by one, cities have banned them until Lakeport stands as the only city in Lake County where fireworks can be legally sold.
One good season in a fireworks booth can raise as much money as 100 bake sales and car washes. The Lake County Channel Cats are desperately trying to raise money to restore the public swimming pool at Lakeport High School and maintain a swim team that has existed for over 30 years. We work with a meager budget, painfully gained through registration fees and labor-intensive fundraisers our most important one being the sale of fireworks.
Do you want a public pool? Do you want to support a group that teaches kids how to swim in a county that boasts the largest lake in California?
Please, “safe and sane” refers to the fireworks; must we ask each citizen that buys them if they will behave safely and sanely?
Jennifer Hanson
President
Lake County Channel Cats
Lakeport
