Mom wants tougher fireworks laws after son sets off explosive on his head, dies Days after her son was killed instantly after setting off a firework on top of his head, a Maine mother is calling for stricter laws on who can have access to the explosives.
Police say that on the 4th of July, Devon Staples, 22, was drinking with friends in the town of Calais when the accident happened with a mortar tube. In the wake of her son's death, Kathleen Staples wants to see lawmakers consider requiring safety training courses before letting someone use fireworks. "At least it'd be a little bit more than, 'Here you go,'" she told The Associated Press. "That's an explosive. They didn't just hand me a license and put me in the car."
Staples said she thinks her son might have thought the explosive was a "dud" that wouldn't hurt him, but State Fire Marshal Joe Thomas said that since the mortar had already been used once before, he "can't imagine someone would anticipate that it was a dud." This was the first fireworks-related death to occur in Maine since they were legalized in 2012, and Rep. Michel Lajoie (D) said he is considering introducing a measure next year to repeal the law. Lajoie, a retired fire chief, said he can already hear the arguments from people opposing a ban. "They're going to say, 'Well, you can't regulate stupidity'...and it's true, you can't," he told AP. "But the fact of the matter is you have to try something. I'm not giving up."
A Texas man has died after setting a firework off on his chest. Justin Bartek, 30, died after being rushed to the Columbus Community Hospital. Friends described him as an "infectious spirit" and "the light of many people's lives."
Bartek and a group of friends were at a fishing spot on the Colorado River, shooting off fireworks. A sheriff's offical told KPRC, the local NBC affiliate, that Bartek put a firework on his chest. It went off and killed him instantly. An autopsy will be performed to determine the exact cause of death.
[This message has been edited by texasfiero (edited 07-08-2015).]
His head is turned ever so slightly an old trick with regular photography like putting a cat in a bottle, when In reality that cat is simply behind the bottle.
Angles, distances can make a big difference in what a photo looks like when you take it.
Steve
My comment was made in jest, sorry that you missed that.
Originally posted by Marvin McInnis: Goodness! Gracious! Great balls of fire!
OK Jerry Lee !
Evidently the education system isn't what it was when I went to school back in BC, because I can read a warning label and this kid could not. Its in big enough letters so that can't be the problem, it's on the box it comes in, on the mortar tube you put the shells into and even on each individual shell. How much more do they want?
if a mortar misfired I left it right where it was for about ten min and then just poured some water down into the tube until it filled it to the top, let it set for about 10 min. and would dispose of the entire thing, mortar, shell and all into a 5 gallon bucket of water. Even in my heaviest drinking and drugging day I knew better than to pick up a fizzled out fireworks. I think it even says to do that somewhere in the warning labels that are all over the place on each part of the product. So I think the big problem was lack of sense or reading comprehension or maybe it was all the boozes fault. But god forbid anyone say that, we would have yet one more drug unavailable to people for recreational purposes. We all know how well that worked during the last wave of the few trying to get rid of something they didn't like. Just like how the few are getting the flag removed from confederate monuments now.
Was this a tragic loss of life, yes !
Who's fault was it? The kids for playing with a deadly toy in a way no one should and should know better than to even think about. I understand the mother being upset, I understand HER wanting to make sure no one else does this. But like said above this is just the normal overreaction that happens when people do things like this, wave a flag someone else thinks is racist, ban all drugs after someone ODs, ban all guns after some mental defective kid kills some people in a church or any of the other number of the things the Me generation can think of to protect themselves from themselves when something like this happens.
We see it everywhere, warning labels because people are to stupid to know they shouldn't blowdry their hair in the shower, WTF folks,
I'm sure that alcohol had a lot to do with it. Alcohol does not raise anyones intelligence. On the other hand, the older I get the more often I find myself saying 'what the f*** was I thinking'. I wouldn't hire me anymore.
