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Jul. 04, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

FOURTH OF JULY: Hundreds buy fireworks at tribal interstate plaza

But people deny they'll use explosives in Clark County, where such items are illegal

By RICHARD LAKE
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Hundreds of people line up to file through the Moapa Paiute Travel Plaza just north of town Friday to buy fireworks. Many of the fireworks sold there are illegal to use or possess in Clark County.
Photo by Ralph Fountain

It's so hot out here the pavement melts like black lava when you pull your car into the parking lot. It squishes under your tires and oozes out in a steaming pile. A dust storm pitches baseball-sized rocks at the cars parked over in the dirt. The beef jerky for sale has dried up and is now beef dust, like Ovaltine with a blend of herbs and spices.

It really is hot here Friday at the Moapa Paiute Travel Plaza just off Interstate 15 at the Valley of Fire exit. There really is a dust storm. There really is jerky for sale.

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    • But if you believe the rest of it, you might also believe the claim of every person we chatted with -- that none of the illegal fireworks purchased here will be used in an illegal manner.

    Any type of fireworks that explode, twirl on the ground or fly into the air are illegal in Clark County -- all of the county except the sovereign land of the Indian reservation. Doesn't matter if you're in the middle of a lake with a fire extinguisher strapped to your hip like a safety gunslinger. Doesn't matter if you're a hundred miles from the nearest structure or dried up bush. Doesn't matter if you're only driving through the most isolated rural spot and you've got your explode-a-rama show boxed up, secured inside a locked metal box full of ice chips and stored in the trunk of your car. If they explode, fly or spin, they're illegal to use or possess.

    And so, what are the dozens, scores, hundreds of people who are walking back to their cars with boxes of stuff that will explode into fiery balls of color a couple hundred feet in the air going to do with these creations? Take them apart to see how they work?

    Let's ask that guy, who's loading two armfuls of fireworks into the trunk of his Monte Carlo. So, you bought some fireworks for the big holiday, huh?

    "No," he says. He closes the trunk hard and stares. "I'm just eating, man."

    He glares through aviator sunglasses and does not crack a smile. It's as if he has just declared that it is snowing in July and dares you to point to the thermometer, which reads 106.

    OK then.

    "I'm buying these for somebody else," says Dan Purdy, a local electrician. He loads up his booty into a mega pickup truck. He says he's going to a buddy's family reunion in Utah. No way is he going to use all this contraband in Clark County. Not gonna happen.

    There's a dad and a group of teenage boys over there, tearing apart the hot pink package of the Night Grizzly they just walked out of the store with. They're throwing the 4-foot-tall packaging into the Dumpster, then loading up the contents into the back of a Chevy Suburban as if they've got something to hide.

    So fellas, planning on a little July 4th fun?

    "No. I'm working," says the dad. He says he's a mechanic. He has no plans to use the fireworks. None at all.

    He has done it in the past, sure, for 13 years in a row in fact, was always very careful, never had a problem. But this year? These particular fireworks? These monstrous fireworks that he and the kids have just loaded into the car in such a way that, were a state trooper to pull them over, they'd be invisible in a casual inspection?

    Not using them. Go away now.

    A grandma from Henderson comes out with a small shopping bag and a 7-year-old boy attached to her hip. His name is Cameron Cameron (really), and he is Sue Cameron's grandson.

    "I only buy safe and sane," Sue says. They're fun for the boy, but not so dangerous they'll burn down the neighbor's house.

    So why drive all the way out here rather than go to one of the fire department-approved booths in town? These are better, she says. The fireworks from the booths smoke too much.

    A family from nearby Glendale loads up enough explosives into the back of a Dodge Nitro (really) to charge admission.

    The guy doing most of the loading -- he says his name is Adam Smith, same as the philosopher who's considered the father of capitalism -- says they're going to camp in the Valley of Fire overnight, then come back down the road to the Paiute land and blow up their stuff.

    If that's true, it would be a perfectly legal exploitation of a loophole, capitalist-style.

    Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.

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    John wrote on July 04, 2009 11:02 PM: We need to give up the pretense that fireworks are illegal in Clark county. I feel like I'm in downtown baghdad right now and I have yet to see a police car go screaming down the street lights and sirens to put a stop to it. Enforcement is nonexistent unless people get totally stupid with them, so why not make them legal unless you get stupid with them. Get the firefighters to setup designated "fireworks areas" where they're safe to set off, people can bbq, have a few beers and blow some stuff off in a safe and monitored area. Change the law to make people liable for any property damage or injury they cause by carelessly using fireworks.


    Fair and Balanced Fred wrote on July 04, 2009 09:26 PM: As a Libertarian-con, Republicon member of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the National Assault Weapons Association (NAWA) and the National Flying Exploding Fireworks Association (NFEFA) it is my duty to remind everyone that fireworks don't burn down your home and cause kids third degree burns: people do.

    'Nuff said.


    VegasSucks wrote on July 04, 2009 06:12 PM: Just make sure the spray from your garden hose is long enough to reach to the end of your property line AND the entire length of your dried-out roof.
    Obviously, Clark County and the city of Las Vegas turn a blind eye to the sales of these fireworks.
    Good for Moapa and Pahrump--at least somebody is making money 'cuz isn't that what it's all about? Profit always triumphs over public safety.

    And there's no better place to set off "unsafe and insane" fireworks than drought-stricken Clark County.
    Happy Fourth of July!! My hope is that no one's home burns to the ground due to illegal fireworks.


    It it's illegal to posess them, even if you are only transporting them in a moving vehicle . . . wrote on July 04, 2009 03:27 PM: How do the fireworks get to Moapa?


    Parker wrote on July 04, 2009 01:09 PM: U should be able to go in the middle of the desert and set off the fireworks. It is after all a desert out there!!!!!


    In the Know wrote on July 04, 2009 12:33 PM: Pahrump has better fireworks for sale!


    tme wrote on July 04, 2009 12:27 PM: the tongue-in-cheek humor from the many interviewed for this article provided a laff or two to my day....good 4 them


    fourthed wrote on July 04, 2009 12:15 PM: Good for these, people. I look forward to the the celebration..i'll sit in my front yard with a few PBRs and watch the show.


    Big mouths and small brains, oh my! wrote on July 04, 2009 11:20 AM: fought and died for independence, wrote on July 04, 2009 10:39 AM: the star spangled banner never mentions any safe and sane fireworks

    only the rockets red glare that fly into the sky and go burst !!!!!!

    The Star Spangled Banner is talking about artillery bombardment, not fireworks, and the War of 1812 (which we lost), not the Revolutionary War. Citing those lyrics as justification for setting off fireworks is quite possibly the most uninformed, ignorant and laughable argument I've heard in a long time. Congratulations!


    ralph wrote on July 04, 2009 11:02 AM: the local so-called safe and sane fireworks are a total rip-off and they are the equivalent of lighting a match and watching it burn. Of course, I'm surprised the nannies even allow matches anymore to go with our fire-safe-cigarettes. The pious nannies can sit home and watch fireworks on TV, since they seem bent on taking the fun out of pretty much everything until we're all walking around inside bubbles like trained hamsters.


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