, Fla. — Standing before an audience that included Orange County’s commissioners, Jill Shargaa held up posters made specifically to draw a reaction.
“This is what our January looked like,” she said, indicating the calendar filled with bomb icons. “Each icon is a bomb that went off. Sometimes it’s two or four times a day.”
Shargaa and her neighbors are all united against one man: a resident about half-way down their block who sets off the explosions daily and at all hours.
On Wednesday, his house was also adorned with snowmen making rude gestures and signs comparing his neighbors to donkeys. Neighbors say those decorations replaced large colorful sex toys that used to greet passers-by.
The figurines, they said, can be ignored. The explosions wake everyone up by night and send kids screaming for their parents during the day.
“They don’t want to play outside,” Amber Headley said. “They don’t go in the backyard because they’re afraid of the fireworks.”
WFTV first reported the nuisance in September and the county’s desire to crack down on the man. Five months – and many explosions – later, commissioners say they’re close to voting on new ordinances, though it appeared the desired changes by community members weren’t part of the package.
“The Orange County Sheriff’s Office reported that they sent multiple officers on multiple days to the address in question to speak with the homeowner,” a memo from Commissioner Mayra Uribe said. “OSCO [sic] has stated that they are unable to further address the situation as the launching for the mortars takes place in the backyard behind a privacy fence.”
Another issue to be addressed, Uribe’s memo said, was the fact that the mortars were launched randomly.
In Florida, launching fireworks outside of the two major holidays associated with them (July 4, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day) is illegal. Uribe and others say loopholes are being exploited.
“I personally have seen four Sheriff cars pull up to his house, bang on his door, and he refuses to come out,” Shargaa said. “He knows the law or something, it seems to be working in his favor. It’s not working in our favor.”
Commissioners were set to debate and potentially vote on a proposal Tuesday, but had to pull it because staff needed to double check that it wouldn’t have any adverse effects. It could create an opening for additional modifications that can give deputies more enforcement power.
Despite Uribe acknowledging the need to be as careful as possible, neighbors say the last-minute delay left them feeling ignored again.
“We were there five months ago, and the bombs are still coming fast and furious,” Shargaa said.
WFTV briefly spoke to the man, who asked to be left alone, said he was acting within his First Amendment rights and then instructed the news crew to get off his property.
Some neighbors, including Shargaa, said they were considering a lawsuit if the county didn’t step in quickly.
“You can express yourself how you see fit, but then you have to understand that does come with a level of respect for you and the people around you,” Brando Wattley said. “You have to account for these things.”
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