polksalet Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 Well, bottle rockets are illegal here so they use other kinds of fireworks. Teen dies after fireworks injury By: Lori Dunn - Texarkana Gazette - Published: 07/07/2007 A 13-year-old Texarkana, Texas, boy has died from injuries he received while shooting off fireworks on the 4th of July. Darrius Pollard died at 6 p.m. Friday at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, said Mike Spigner, a spokesman for the hospital. Pollard was hit in the head by a type of pyrotechnic called a mortar round about 10:45 p.m. Wednesday while with a group of other kids in the Beverly community. The force of the impact knocked Pollard to the ground and he was taken by private vehicle to a local hospital. He was later transferred to Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Mortar rounds are about the size of a golf ball and should never be aimed at anyone, said Sgt. Shawn Fitzgerald, spokesman for the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department. Police are continuing to investigate the incident. “Detectives are still gathering statements and checking to see if anyone will be charged,” Fitzgerald said. According to witnesses, several individuals were firing various fireworks at each other in the neighborhood that evening despite a city ordinance that outlaws such activity. Fitzgerald said the ordinance is in place largely for safety reasons. He said it is too dangerous to set off fireworks in large crowds or in neighborhoods where the buildings are in such close proximity to each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McNasty Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 My brother and I used to have bottle rocket fights and roman candle fights when we were kids. Roman candles were the best... had to ditch a couple of sweatshirts to hide the evidence from mom, though. Sad that the kid died, and sadder still for the family, and for the kid that shot the mortar, but man, that was just stupid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 Bottle rockets and roman candles. Yup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMD Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 In my less than wise youth, I once had an enubriated bottle rocket war at night where two guys were each in the two flat bottom aluminum boats that we sort of "found". It was rather majestic really and impressive. Just poled out about 100 feet away from each other in the lake (we had no oars or paddles because we "found" the boats) and then shot over a gross of bottle rockets each at the other boat. When it was done, we celebrated our recreation of the battle of Midway by throwing a lit dollar pack of firecrackers into the other boat when we got close. It was a good night to be an American male teenager. And once again we somehow managed to get through the minefield of youth without serious injury. It was awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Cornelius Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 Bottle rockets and roman candles. Yup. yup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 One time when I was about 14. Two weeks later one of my sister's friends lost his eye during a bottle-rocket fight when one blew up in his eye. That was enough to convince me how stupid they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 Yep in my younger days I did plenty of really stupid things that still to this day make me wonder how I made it here. Roman Candles and Bottle Rockets were shot many a time at each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbimm Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 Yup. Bottle rockets, The larger version Sky Rockets. Heck we would shoot anything that we didnt think would kill us at each other! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chargerz Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 I was involved in several bottle rocket fights in college. Other fraternity houses would attack our house using them, and we would fire our bottle rockets in retaliation. I remember just missing the head of one such invader one night. It's a miracle more people didn't get hurt firing off those things. Quite a few windows bit the dust however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimm74 Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 yes. lots of bottle rocket and roman candle fights. We even used pvc pipes as launchers to improve accuracy.....but I wouldnt have aimed a mortor shot at someone. the impact alone would be damaging not to mention being covered in fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Holy Roller Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 (edited) yes. lots of bottle rocket and roman candle fights. We even used pvc pipes as launchers to improve accuracy.....but I wouldnt have aimed a mortor shot at someone. the impact alone would be damaging not to mention being covered in fire. My sons did all that and also used the pvc. It's very sad a kid died because of something so preventable. And speaking of stupid things to do in boats, my friends the Oldfather bros. were maybe 14-15 when they went fishing and took their .22s with them in their boat. You know, just in case. Well the oldest accidently shoots his brother in the leg. The brother promptly picks up his rifle and shoots John in his thigh. They rowed back to shore and hobbled up to the house where they both proceeded to get a butt-chewin' and ass spankin' from their dad. I don't think they even went to the hospital because their dad was a WWII vet who treated them at home. This was back when boys could be boys in the mid '60s. My mind boggles as to what would happen today. Edited July 8, 2007 by The Holy Roller Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmanzzzz Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 yes, it was an annual tradition. two teams, flip a coin. one team goes first and sets up an ambush. the second follow as victoms. bottle rockets for long range. roman candles for medium range and firecrackers for close range. i had my own launcher and ammo pack and would dress in black and have a cigar in my mouth for super efficient lighting. the screaming bottle rockets and smoke bombs provided for extra terror. one year some newbie on the other team had spent a ton of money on ammo and was carrying it around in a paper sack. well an errant bottle rocket landed in the sack and ignighted the whole mess. for about a minute we had one of the greatest shows ive seen. a different year we only had 5 warrirors show up. three buds teamed up and i got stuck with a rook. we won the flip and go to set up our ambush. we would always host the war in a canyon next to a river. we decided it was best to take the high ground so all are weapons would be in range. sure enough the bad guys got surprised and started hiking up after us. we enjoyed our high ground for awhile as we made the enemies life miserable. then they started getting close an we decided to go even higher and maintain our advantage. well the hillside started getting steeper and began to cliff out. we lost sight my most hated rival for a bit and i figured we had some time to spare. the guy is was with was pretty worthless and basically baggage following me around. to make a long story short, mr. evil out flanked us and got above us and began reigning terror. my partner and i had to switch spots on the ledge we were huddled on so i could fire back. in the process this guys slips and fall off the ledge and falls into the darkness. i scream to my buddy to stop and i literally run down the mountain to find him. this was a pretty high cliffy area and i was sure he was either dead or really f-ed up. a couple of hundred feet down the slope i catch up to him scooting on his but down the mountain. he is consious and can walk but cant remember how he got there. i walk him to my car and rush him to emergency. luckally he only suffers from a broken hand, a scratched up back and a concussion. whew. yes we were trashed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Neutron Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 One of the "great" achievements of my life was sticking my friend in the arm with a bottle rocket when he was at a full run trying to escape. The end of the stick stuck in his arm just before it blew up. He screamed like a girl - no real harm done other than a slight powder burn. Good times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark5 Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Bottle rockets are the LEAST of your worries in the Beverly edition!!! The meter readers for the electric co. have remote meters on almost every house there because of the dangers of going in the backyards there.. Our own little WATTS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polksalet Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 Bottle rockets are the LEAST of your worries in the Beverly edition!!!The meter readers for the electric co. have remote meters on almost every house there because of the dangers of going in the backyards there.. Our own little WATTS. It is the same way out here in Redwater When you moving in.? There are lots of cribs for sale here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunysteelfly76 Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 yes. lots of bottle rocket and roman candle fights. We even used pvc pipes as launchers to improve accuracy.....but I wouldnt have aimed a mortor shot at someone. the impact alone would be damaging not to mention being covered in fire. We used snorkels. It gave you more of a feel of shooting a gun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Beatings Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 We had a bottlerocket fight inside a house that we were renting back in my early 20's. We had to do some carpet repair after all was said and done. A lot of fun though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajncajn Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Bottle rockets and roman candles. Yup. Yup, used to do it all the time. Worse than that we used to have BB gun wars too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Cornelius Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 we used to have BB gun wars too. yup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bring Back Pat!!! Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Many a bottle rocket fight in my younger years. We also took it to the extreme. We built 'guns' to shoot them off. Not with PVC, but with small pipes. Fabricated them to handles to feel like a gun, and drilled holes in the barrells to stick the wick through. You'd hold them up and light em. We all got pretty good with the accuracy, although many times they'd go wherever they wanted to. It all ended the year of the 'explosion'. We had bought many other things besides bottle rockets. Only fought with them, but had bags full of m80s and jumpin jacks and all sorts of others. We formed to teams and lined up on either sides of a sand pit which was across the street from my house. Each team built 'dugouts' in the side of the hills from which to shoot. Well, about three minutes into one year's fight, my buddy shot a bottle rocket which found it's way directly into the paper bag full of fireworks in the other teams dugout. Man, it's one of those memories that will be seared into my head for life; watching them jumping out of the dugout and rolling down the sand hill about 100 feet or so, as hundreds of fireworks are going off behind them The entire bag it landed in went up, as did the four other bags in the dugout. We still sit and laugh our asses off about that day when we all get together. We didn't think anything of the danger back then, even though it was only about 15 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H8tank Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Pass the bottle rocket is fun, get drunk, light a bottle rocket, pass it around til it goes 'pop' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajncajn Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Our fireworks wars came to a halt when, within the same day, my brother took a roman candle shot to the back while wearing his brand new jacket and he had a firecracker with a quick fuse go off just as he let it go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Bottle rocket fights = yup Roman candles = nope bb guns = nope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmanzzzz Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 i like this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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