December 8, 2020

Man found with heavy fireworks to be thrown out of home

Filed under: General,Health by Orangemaster @ 9:53 am

A 39-year-old man from Winterswijk, Gelderland who was recently caught with 260 kilos of heavy fireworks, including illegal Super Cobra 6 flashing firecrackers in his shed, attic and kitchen, will have his home closed between 14 December through 3 January, putting him and his family out for the holidays. The police claimed on Twitter that had those fireworks exploded, they would have destroyed homes and more within a 400-metre radius.

Usually set off for New Year’s Eve, this year fireworks will not be allowed and therefore be illegal throughout the Netherlands. Businesses often selling fireworks as a source of extra income will not be able to sell any this year, and found out only after they’d already bought their yearly stock. That stock has to either be stored in specific storage spaces or businesses have to pay to have it destroyed – either way they will lose a lot of money.

Of course this also upsets many individuals who bought fireworks because they will be fined if they use them, which is already happening and even a source of police trouble in Urk, Flevoland where teens are throwing heavy fireworks at the police.

Back in January we told you about a father who caught his kids damaging property with fireworks, and this was before covid.

I for one am thrilled to have more peace and quiet for the holidays. The sheer amount of construction works near my home is maddening, and I can imagine many pet owners will be thrilled as well.

(Links: hartvannederland.nl, ad.nl)

Tags: , , , , ,

January 7, 2020

Father spots his kids damaging property with fireworks

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 3:04 pm

2548206259_8eebaff3da_m

After all the property damage, injuries, fires and even deaths related to people using fireworks in the Netherlands on New Year’s Eve, the issue of anybody using fireworks is finally being hotly debated at the national level.

One father in Enschede, Overijssel who I bet thought his children were good kids, found out through social media that his kids are destructive little shits. Football club Sparta Enschede put out a film of the destructive little shits trashing the club’s stands on social media and the father recognised his destructive little shits. He contacted the club to tell them that and agreed to pay the 10,000 euro worth of damages caused by his destructive little shits.

“Luckily there are still honest people who accept responsibility,” one of the club’s Board members said. Hopefully dad will set a good example for these destructive little shits and punish them accorgdingly. It has not been mentioned whether the destructive little shits are also members of the club. I can’t imagine they would be welcome any time soon even as spectators.

(Link: waarmaarraar.nl, Photo of Football by Bramus, some rights reserved)

Tags: , , ,

April 19, 2009

Citizen’s Initiative neutered by parliament

Filed under: General,Online by Branko Collin @ 11:46 am

Earlier this year the first digital citizen’s initiative was organized to force parliament to talk about the right of citizens to light fireworks at New Year (the people behind the initiative want that right taken away). Recently however the committee that needs to verify whether citizen’s initiatives are legit, led by former Minister of the Interior Johan Remkes, has shot down the fireworks initiative with the most spurious arguments, reports Geen Commentaar (Dutch):

He states that minister Ter Horst indicated at a committee meeting on January 29, 2008, that she did not wish to outlaw consumer fireworks. According to Remkes, “parliament has implicitly endorsed this point of view by not tabling any motions from which the opposite could be inferred.”

And with that kind of argument he basically killed every future citizen’s initiative.

On a totally unrelated matter, yesterday I heard three politicians on the radio whine, again, that citizens are not interested in politics and that they seem think all politicians are crooks. Hm…

Tags: , , , ,

January 16, 2009

First digital Citizen’s Initiative — citizens say no to fun

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 9:43 am

“You stupid woman, digital signatures don’t count,” we said less than a year ago, but a new law has changed that rule. If you want to tell parliament to put certain topics on the agenda, digital signatures are good enough to support your Citizen’s Initiative. Last year for instance, a group of women wanted parliament to debate on binge drinking youth. That bid failed, because the autographs had been digitally collected. The law has now been changed, and as of 1 January 2009 digital signatures do count.

So, with this great democratic leap forward, what do citizens elect to do with their new found power and responsibility? Why, declare their support for the War on Fun of course! The first digital Citizen’s Initiative is here, and it’s about fireworks. The citizens, led by Green Party city council member and sour puss David Rietveld, want it outlawed. To be precise, they demand that only professionals are allowed to light fireworks on New Year’s Eve, an activity often shared between dads and their sons.

As is typical for this time, something that is clearly wrong and illegal is taken and glued to something that is fun, yet irritating to some. In this case, the New Year’s celebrations are a signal to a very few troublemakers to start burning cars and houses. And so the David Rietvelds of this world figure that it is clearly the fireworks that are at fault, not the troublemakers—who in my opionion won’t be hindered by fireworks-banning legislation in the first place, and if they did would just find other ways to be dorks.

Photo by Mark Crossfield, some rights reserved.

Tags: , , , , , ,