Patriot Act Snuffs Patriotic Act

In Helena, Montana, there were a good number of folks who shrugged off East Helena, home of one of the few operating lead smelters on Earth, as nothing more than a dingy burg to drive quickly past on the way to Townsend. Once a year, however, East Helena would rise to a fiery glory. Yes, every Fourth of July the bulk of Helena's residents would turn the taillights of their shiny new trucks toward the setting sun and head for the most magnificent fireworks display west of, well, Bozeman. From atop the slag piles of black mine tailings that neighbor the highway, the members of the VFW would fire off one glittering fiery flower after another as the Helenans gasped with delight.

Not this year.

What could have quashed this display of grand patriotism? Check it out:

According to Bill Houston of East Helena VFW Post 10010, the Safe Explosives Act, which went into effect last year as a response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, requires that anyone with a private group wishing to put on a fireworks display needs to undergo an extensive background check, which can take 90 days or more. The deadline passed without anyone at the VFW realizing it was time to start planning.

Yes, friends, it's the good old Patriot Act.
The Independent Record puts it in perspective:

The VFW - the decidedly unsubversive group that has put on Independence Day fireworks shows over East Helena for decades - simply wasn't aware of this red tape and missed the deadline. So it is too late for Fourth of July fireworks.

This is hardly the end of the world. Still, as we look into the dark skies over East Helena on the evening of July 4, it will be hard not to remember that darkness is symbolic, too.

HAT TIP: Pops