Deirdre Newman
During the recent discussion on restricting the sale of fireworks,
the rallying cry of the groups that sell them was "we need the
money." But other cities have managed under total bans.
The council on Monday passed a law and created a council policy
restricting the sale of fireworks. Some of the changes include
reducing the number of fireworks stands and limiting high schools to
four stands each.
City Councilman Mike Scheafer, who initiated the changes, is
sympathetic to the fundraising concern. He said he's not ready to
call for a total ban on fireworks until the groups that sell them
have other means of raising money.
That left some residents questioning how nonprofit groups and
sports teams in cities that don't sell fireworks manage. The answer
is finding other ways like working shifts at bingo games, selling
program ads and fundraising events.
"If you take [fireworks sales] away, you gotta go find something
else," said Paul Renfrow, the boys athletic director at Marina High
School in Huntington Beach, which banned the sale of fireworks in
1987. "If you're trying to take the fireworks away for a good reason,
if it's justified, then OK. I think other than that, you gotta look
and see the effect of it."
Renfrow said not being able to sell fireworks right after they
were banned cut off a major fundraising option for the athletic
department. At the time the ban came down, however, the school began
a bingo fundraiser in its cafeteria on Sundays to raise money.
Booster organizations on campus take shifts working the event.
Groups can generate between $6,000 to $18,000 per year, Renfrow said.
His teams have also sold Christmas trees to raise money.
"We were able to rebound, but at the same time, we have the
resources to do it," Renfrow said. "It's a different community over
here."
Renfrow suggested that Costa Mesa city officials work with the
Newport-Mesa Unified School District to come up with other
fundraising alternatives.
"If you keep taking fundraising away from the schools, it forces
the district to pick up the cost that the boosters have been taking
care of," he said.
At Huntington Beach High School, some student athletes raise money
by selling ads for the programs that are available at home games,
boys' Athletic Director Roy Miller said. Some teams also hold
fundraisers, but not as much as in the past, he added.
"Some of the teams still do carwashes," Miller said. "We end up
finding out that you nickel and dime people to death doing that. Now,
