IN SHORT: Not only will residents be able to use firecrackers this holiday they will also be able to buy them within the city limits.
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
If you’re looking for fireworks for the Fourth of July, you can find them inside the city limits of Beebe this year for the first time in many years.
“We decided if we were going to shoot them in the city limits we might as well sell them in the city limits,” Mayor Mike Robertson explained Tuesday.
The council lifted its ban on selling fireworks in June 2006 when it approved an updated code book. Then last month, the council passed an ordinance that set the days and hours when fireworks can legally be discharged. The ordinance also reiterated that the ban had been lifted.
Celebrating Independence Day with fireworks is legal in Beebe on July 3 from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and from 7 a.m. July 4 to 12:30 a.m. on July 5.
Shooting fireworks for the New Year is legal in Beebe from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Dec. 30 and from 7 a.m. on Dec. 31 to 12:30 a.m. on Jan. 1.
The stands are allowed in C-2 and I-1 zones.
Permits cost $50 for each stand and must be purchased before each holiday.
The only problem so far is that young residents are not adhering to the restrictions on shooting the fireworks they buy, said Police Chief Don Inns.
“We’re getting inundated with calls,” Inns said.
Inns said he would like to warn youngsters for the first offense and take their fireworks and give them a citation if they break the ordinance a second time.
But to be fair, he will make sure the parents have been contacted before issuing any citations.
“Inevitably, if a kid gets a citation, it’s going to come out of the parents’ pockets,” he said.
