I love to read. I’ve been an avid reader since I was a wee lad. One of the books that was formative for me was published in 1957 by James B. Garfield called “Follow My Leader”. The book is about a young boy who plays with fireworks and is blinded by the experience. The book then describes how he learns braille, interacts with his Seeing Eye dog and adjusts to a life as a blind person. It is a great juvenile novel and still available for purchase. It made a tremendous impact on me as a boy. It also made me a life-long hater of fireworks.
When I was in the Legislature (1993-2004) there were several efforts to open up the allowable period to purchase fireworks in South Dakota. I resisted every change and every proposed expansion. I was instrumental in maintaining a limited fireworks season in South Dakota and for several years was successful in stopping exemptions that would have permitted fireworks for various other holidays (Christmas, New Year’s, Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day are the legislative fireworks initiatives that I remember). In my opinion fireworks should be reserved exclusively for the 4th of July. Fireworks are explosives and inherently dangerous. I know it sounds like hyperbole but fireworks in the hands of the ignorant are a recipe for injury, fire, general property damage and possible death not to mention the annoyance fireworks create for dogs and the surrounding neighborhood.
There is a time and a place for fireworks and it is on July 4th. Personnel properly trained to detonate these explosives should ignite fireworks in a suitable place with the appropriate safety procedures and proper protocols. I can think of no better place for a fireworks display on the 4th of July than at the Shrine of Democracy, Mount Rushmore.
Years ago I was camping with my kids in Yellowstone National Park. We were going to be in Keystone, SD on July 4th on our way back home so I made a motel reservation at the President’s View Resort. The reservations operator transferred me to the manager, Jim Sellars, who had been the Corn Palace Director in the 1990’s when I first gave tours there. We had old home week, talked about mutual acquaintances we knew in Mitchell etc. before he told me that he handled all of the July 4th reservations personally because Mount Rushmore was closed on the 4th. He said he wanted to forewarn people they wouldn’t see fireworks at the Shrine of Democracy on July 4th. Mount Rushmore is a federally run facility and despite the fact that many other national parks and memorials are open on federal holidays, Mount Rushmore was not. That is a travesty. It is absurd that the “Shrine of Democracy” is not open to the American public on the date commemorating the birth of our nation.
Governor Noem is right to want to have a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore on July 4th. The National Park Service has denied the Governor’s request due to opposition from Native-American tribes and the threat of fire danger. These are valid considerations, however mid March is too soon to declare that it will be too dry in early July to set off fireworks. It may well be too arid come July but now is not the time to make that determination.
I realize that the Black Hills is sacred to the Natives, especially to the Lakota. I know that the settlement the government has made with the tribes to purchase the Black Hills sits untouched in an account that the US government is holding in trust for the ancestors of the Native-Americans who agreed to give up (albeit under duress) that land to white settlers. Modern day tribal members don’t want to take the money because that would be “agreeing” to the sale of sacred land, which they don’t think should have been dealt away by treaty under any circumstances. As much as I empathize with their position, I don’t agree that gives the tribes veto power over what goes on at Mount Rushmore.
Gutzon Borglum chose the Presidents for inclusion on Mount Rushmore for very specific reasons. George Washington represents the Founding of our country while Thomas Jefferson signifies the expansion of the United States into a nation that spans a continent. The Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln, characterizes our struggle with racism, the Civil War and our continued effort to strive to live up to the sentiments laid out in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Finally, Theodore Roosevelt exemplifies the United States’ rise to global power.
It is right and proper that we commemorate the founding and the guiding principles of our nation. It is appropriate to celebrate our past, our country and our continuing commitment to the principles of representative democracy with fireworks and festivities. Mount Rushmore is a most suitable place for such a fête, always assuming that detonating fireworks poses no threat to the monument itself as well as no fire danger to the surrounding Black Hills.