The 4th of July is a dreaded holiday in neighborhoods with high ratios of pyros who like to light fireworks at all hours. And if the launching of bottle rockets seemed a little more incessant this year, you may have The Kansas City Star to thank.
A July 2 Star story incorrectly reported that Kansas City, Missouri, allows certain fireworks to be discharged on July 3 and July 4 from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. This is not the case: Kansas City bans the sale, possession or use of fireworks -- no exceptions. The ordinance doesn't stop people who are determined to get drunk and ignite a stash of Roman candles, but there it is.
The Star ran a correction in the July 3 paper. Still, Dennis Stack, an Indian Mound neighborhood leader, was none too pleased to pick up said edition and find a tough-looking feline staring back at him.
“Retraction or not, I am still mad at the Star,” Stack wrote in a e-newsletter. “Guess what’s on today’s front page? It’s a $5 coupon for fireworks in the form of one of those Post-it-type things the ad department sometimes sticks on the front page. The logo is the infamous Black Cat fireworks icon.
“What an affront!”
Stack later received a note from Star readers’ rep Derek Donovan, who called the July 2 error “very, very much regrettable.” Donovan said an intern mixed up information for Kansas City, Kansas, with Kansas City, Missouri.
Donovan said he’d share Stack’s complaint about the sticker with a Star advertising executive. He also noted that fireworks sales are legal in much of the metro. – David Martin
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