Fireworks laws aren't stopping Rock Port sales
ROCK PORT, Mo. — That guy with the Nebraska plates is getting ready to smuggle a trunk load of illegal fireworks back home.
He’s got bottle rockets, artillery shells, a giant Excalibur sword, that kind of thing. All of it is big, loud and aggressive; most of it is illegal to own in Nebraska.
He made the trip from Blair, he says. And he didn’t come all this way and didn’t buy all these fireworks just to be sold out by a newspaper reporter. So he doesn’t want his name in the paper. No need to alert the cops, he says.
He agrees to show his fireworks, then hesitates.
“You’re not a cop are you? You’ve got to tell me if you are.”
Every year in the weeks before the Fourth of July, Nebraskans take off like a bottle rocket to Rock Port, a town of 1,400 just a shade east of Nebraska and south of Iowa. The town is renowned as the spot to buy all the fireworks you can’t in neighboring states.
While it’s legal to buy fireworks in Rock Port, it’s unlawful to bring them into Nebraska. But if the sheer number of license plates from anywhere but Missouri were any indication, that wasn’t stopping many people.
At the seven fireworks stands scattered throughout Rock Port, cars in the parking lots had more Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas tags than Missouri plates. At 1 p.m. Wednesday at Liberty Fireworks, eight of 10 of the customers’ cars were from Nebraska.
“Most of the customers we get are from out of state,” said Larry Flanagan, owner of three of the seven stands in Rock Port. Other managers and owners also said out-of-state customers are the norm.
Those customers are tight-lipped and look paranoid. They don’t want to get caught.
“Customers will seem nervous because most of them have to get back into their state,” said Kim Bredensteiner, manager of Fireworks World for 14 years. “They’ll ask if there are checkpoints anywhere.”
And there’s good reason to be paranoid.
This week, the Nebraska State Patrol and the State Fire Marshal will set up checkpoints on the Nebraska-Missouri state line, searching vehicles coming back from Rock Port.
“We’re always on the look-out,” said Deb Collins, public information officer for the State Patrol, “but it’s more prevalent this time of year than in other times.”
If you’re caught crossing the state line with illegal fireworks, Collins said, you will be fined $50 plus court fees, and all your fireworks will be confiscated. However, police can’t stop you and search your vehicle unless you’re stopped at a checkpoint or pulled over for another violation.
At least one of the sellers at a Rock Port fireworks stand thinks enforcement of fireworks regulation is a little extreme — a bit silly even.
“With all the drug and meth problems that are out there, the Nebraska State Patrol has better things to be looking for than fireworks,” said Todd Simmons of Poor Boy’s Fireworks.
Reach Micah Mertes at 473-7395 or mmertes@journalstar.com.
He’s got bottle rockets, artillery shells, a giant Excalibur sword, that kind of thing. All of it is big, loud and aggressive; most of it is illegal to own in Nebraska.
He made the trip from Blair, he says. And he didn’t come all this way and didn’t buy all these fireworks just to be sold out by a newspaper reporter. So he doesn’t want his name in the paper. No need to alert the cops, he says.
He agrees to show his fireworks, then hesitates.
“You’re not a cop are you? You’ve got to tell me if you are.”
Every year in the weeks before the Fourth of July, Nebraskans take off like a bottle rocket to Rock Port, a town of 1,400 just a shade east of Nebraska and south of Iowa. The town is renowned as the spot to buy all the fireworks you can’t in neighboring states.
While it’s legal to buy fireworks in Rock Port, it’s unlawful to bring them into Nebraska. But if the sheer number of license plates from anywhere but Missouri were any indication, that wasn’t stopping many people.
At the seven fireworks stands scattered throughout Rock Port, cars in the parking lots had more Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas tags than Missouri plates. At 1 p.m. Wednesday at Liberty Fireworks, eight of 10 of the customers’ cars were from Nebraska.
“Most of the customers we get are from out of state,” said Larry Flanagan, owner of three of the seven stands in Rock Port. Other managers and owners also said out-of-state customers are the norm.
Those customers are tight-lipped and look paranoid. They don’t want to get caught.
“Customers will seem nervous because most of them have to get back into their state,” said Kim Bredensteiner, manager of Fireworks World for 14 years. “They’ll ask if there are checkpoints anywhere.”
And there’s good reason to be paranoid.
This week, the Nebraska State Patrol and the State Fire Marshal will set up checkpoints on the Nebraska-Missouri state line, searching vehicles coming back from Rock Port.
“We’re always on the look-out,” said Deb Collins, public information officer for the State Patrol, “but it’s more prevalent this time of year than in other times.”
If you’re caught crossing the state line with illegal fireworks, Collins said, you will be fined $50 plus court fees, and all your fireworks will be confiscated. However, police can’t stop you and search your vehicle unless you’re stopped at a checkpoint or pulled over for another violation.
At least one of the sellers at a Rock Port fireworks stand thinks enforcement of fireworks regulation is a little extreme — a bit silly even.
“With all the drug and meth problems that are out there, the Nebraska State Patrol has better things to be looking for than fireworks,” said Todd Simmons of Poor Boy’s Fireworks.
Reach Micah Mertes at 473-7395 or mmertes@journalstar.com.
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