Bellevue, PTSD, and Fireworks

      Every body loves the Fourth of July weekend. There are barbeques, concerts, flags, family, friends, and above all fireworks. Every body loves fireworks!  Actually, not every body.  Bellevue, Nebraska is pushing for a 10 P.M. curfew for fireworks on the Fourth of July weekend and a 12 P.M. curfew on the fourth to help veterans with PTSD. Veteran Matt Clark says he loves fireworks accept for when they are at night and are unexpected. When trying to sleep, the loud booms send him back to the fields of Iraq and sometimes send him into flashbacks that can sometimes last up to thirty seconds.  Clark and other veterans believe that a set curfew would help them cope with their PTSD because there would be less unexpected explosions.  Cities like Omaha and La Vista have a set curfew of 11 P.M. but no one really follows it and the cities are pretty lenient. Bellevue veterans are getting lots of support for this set curfew but it's going to be a long road because Nebraskans love their fireworks.

      Setting a curfew for 10 P.M. in Bellevue during the Fourth of July weekend is not going to help.  If this curfew was in fact passed, not many people are going to follow it.  There are always going to be kids running around lighting fireworks late at night.  This would be worse for the veterans because then the fireworks would be more unexpected.  Unexpected fireworks are the main reason for the 10 P.M. curfew but this will only make it worse. Some people with PTSD put on headphones or go into the basement where it is quiet and this might be the best solution.  Lighting off fireworks is something the cops can't stop and the heroes with PTSD have to endure. 

http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/to-help-veterans-with-ptsd-bellevue-considers-p-m-fireworks/article_36f0a816-43fc-5ea4-b819-aae4820a1ba2.html?mode=jqm

     Fireworks over the city of Omaha, Nebraska