While it truly wouldn’t be Independence Day without fireworks, the way things are going in terms of fires, injuries and the rarely mentioned public littering that goes along with the festivities, a common ground should be sought.

That last one’s huge, too. If you saw someone dump a bag of garbage on the beach, you’d probably be quite disgusted. Yet, if they’re shooting explosive garbage over local waterways, everyone “ooohs” and “ahhhs.”

Quite odd, really.

Some states have placed a ban on fireworks altogether and although it is a much safer alternative than what we have right now, it’s not very American either. Public officials can tell us to “leave fireworks to the professionals” but in truth, not everyone can make it to these displays and many find that getting stuck in traffic for at least an hour afterward far outweighs the half-hour show.

The answer to this one — which hasn’t really caught on yet — could be the creation of more designated spots at which residents could shoot their fireworks. The locations could be supervised by one or two fire volunteers, making for safer situations; they could be sited away from neighborhoods, reducing the amount of noise complaints; and, because there would be more fireworks in one place, the clean-up effort would be centralized.

Even if a few hundred people took advantage of these sites each year in North Kitsap, the results would surely be evident. We could still have our bangs and those who rely on fireworks’ sales would still get their bucks.