Forgotten Modesto tale of fireworks, doctored documents and scandalous cover-up
In 1972, a 15-year-old Modesto boy died a day after a “homemade firecracker pipe rocket embedded itself in his head,” according to a Modesto Bee report.
The tragedy added fuel to then-Modesto Fire Chief C. Wayne Everett’s drive to ban private fireworks in Modesto, including the so-called safe and sane kind. Fourth of July revelers could get their kicks, he said, from professional displays like the ones we continue to enjoy at John Thurman Field in Modesto, Woodward Lake near Oakdale and Lake Don Pedro near La Grange.
Local leaders back then engaged in fiery debates, some saying it was high time to outlaw what had become a deadly public nuisance. Others just as stridently argued that many local nonprofits would bleed out without income from fireworks sales. Cries of freedom, patriotism and self-rule raged, while some wondered how a Modesto ban might work when fireworks are allowed everywhere else in Stanislaus County.
At one point, a Bee writer tallied City Council attitudes and surmised that Everett’s two-year crusade just might end in victory. But then something happened that would alter the course of fireworks history in Modesto, and perhaps beyond.
The chief cheated, and got caught.
To make things look worse than they were, 28 Modesto fire records were secretly altered. The word “fireworks” was added to 24, and the other four were falsely classified or were false alarms. An original call log went missing in an attempt to cover tracks, but investigators detected changes from carbon copies.
Everett, fire chief for 10 years, was allowed to resign at age 52 in January 1974 rather than face prosecution and a potential prison sentence of from one to 14 years, District Attorney Don Stahl said. Everett died in 2005, and Stahl, in August 2020.
I doubt such behavior would be so easily excused today. Holding our leaders accountable for misdeeds took on new meaning seven months after Stahl let Everett off the hook, when President Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace over the Watergate scandal.
Everett’s crime, attempted cover-up and fall from grace surely had a chilling effect on the local fireworks debate. His intentions may have been righteous. But they were completely overshadowed by the sin of deceit.
One reason Modesto has no fireworks ban
As long as they remain legal in some places, talk of outlawing fireworks will flare up from time to time. Just like guns.
A week ago, my wife, my parents and I watched helicopters tow giant water buckets to what looked like a smallish fire in rugged terrain as we returned from a family reunion near the Oregon border. A lightning strike had started it the day before, and the Lava fire soon flared out of control, destroying great swaths of Siskiyou County. Alarmed leaders in Mount Shasta city, Yreka, Weed and Etna declared fireworks off limits, at least for this year.
Officials followed suit in some Oregon cities, including Portland, Bend and Tualatin, as well as others in Washington state.
Leaders in Tuolumne County to our east and San Joaquin County to our north long ago put the kibosh on private fireworks, joining plenty other places where risk of damage and injury outweighs nonprofit income, personal freedom and simple delight.
Some day, someone will revive the debate here. People I hold in high esteem have suggested it privately, pointing to conditions worsened by climate change, or poor management of forests and wildlands, or both.
When that day comes and the battle is joined, I doubt the sad story of Modesto’s unprincipled fire chief will come up. I arrived in 1987 and never heard it until a retired firefighter recently mentioned it. That sent me to Bee archives, where I found zero mention of the scandal after the day Everett was allowed to resign.
But the sting of embarrassment had a chilling effect back then on the effort to eradicate fireworks, helping explain why we still have them 47 years later.
Waterford behind on fireworks fines
On a related note, the most surprising part of a recent Bee story comparing fines for illegal fireworks in various Stanislaus cities came at the very end, when we noted that Waterford doesn’t have any.
How could any city in a dry state perpetually ravaged by wildfire not have punishment on the books for illegal fireworks?
Talk about your low-hanging fruit. Any city employee could use copy-and-paste skills learned in grade school to find models of ordinances in other places, to put before city leaders for a vote. Did it never happen because of laziness? Or because of some twisted political pressure?
First-time penalties range from $100 to $2,500 in other Stanislaus cities, reporter Kristin Lam found. That’s some spread.
Like I said, devastating destruction has prompted leaders in many other places to ban legal fireworks. Any city dragging its feet to outlaw the illegal ones is way, way behind.
City Manager Michael Pitcock told Lam that a proposal will go before the Waterford City Council before the end of this year. It’s about time.
This story was originally published July 2, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
