Council made right decision on fireworks

Don’t blame the City Council for canceling the 4th of July fireworks display. If you are looking to blame somebody, blame yourselves if you are one of the thousands who have attended the displays but never contributed to help put them on.

The average citizen of Madera has never contributed anything to the display except their share of the tax dollars spent on it.

Individual benefactors who care about the city have donated, though. One remembers the days when contractor David Berry would pay for the whole event. Even today, the city’s contract trash hauler, Mid Valley Disposal, contributes $10,000 to the fireworks, which included a golf tournament and a carnival for children.

The fireworks display has been a wonderful happening, and many people looked forward to it, but there were too many freeloaders, and the city wound up paying the bill.

Freeloaders and bad-mannered parents are spelling the end to nice family events in the town. You may have noticed the Easter egg hunt was cancelled this year, and part of the reason was that the parents of the little children couldn’t control themselves. They ran out and gathered up all the eggs before the kids could go out and get theirs.

Way to teach your kids good manners, parents.

The city is trying not to overspend, especially on activities people don’t seem to appreciate.

The city spends to help organizations stage events like parades and celebrations in parks, celebrations that organizations such as the Arts Council and the Lions Clubs help fund. But for the city to have to haul out its checkbook for a fireworks display for freeloaders isn’t good use of the public’s tax dollars.

Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, I confess I am one of those freeloaders. I have only responded in a small way to requests for cash contributions. I have made a few cash and in-kind donations, but not many.

And maybe that reflects the fact that in my heart of hearts, I haven’t always been sure that a 45-minute fireworks show was really worth it.

That doesn’t mean I haven’t gone out most years and enjoyed them.

But the council may find that a lot of people won’t mind that the fireworks were put aside this year.

They should be congratulated for a good decision on the use of city funds.