PLANS TO LIMIT FIREWORKS DEFEATED

Cape Girardeau residents won't see a shorter fireworks season despite two proposals by Councilman Melvin Gateley.

At Monday's City Council meeting, Gateley called Max Jauch, interim fire chief, to the podium and asked if fireworks had caused fires in the city. Jauch replied that they had.

Gateley then asked if any were caused by bottle rockets, and Jauch confirmed that bottle rockets had caused some.

With that, the councilman introduced three proposals to amend the city's fireworks law. He wanted the times fireworks could be used changed from 8 a.m.-10 p.m. to 10 a.m.-10 p.m. daily and 10 a.m.-midnight on July 4.

He also asked the number of days fireworks could be used be changed from 15 days to 10.

"Can you think of any other holiday we spend 15 days celebrating beside Christmas?" Gateley asked. "I think this is a good compromise for citizens. There are a lot of citizens who think they are going to lose their minds during those 15 days."

Councilman Tom Neumeyer said the citizens who spoke during last month's public hearing on the issue seemed in favor of limiting the number of days fireworks could be used.

Gateley's amendment was defeated with a 4-3 vote. He quickly proposed another amendment, this one to ban bottle rockets from being sold or used inside the city limits. It failed on a 6-1 vote.