Editor,

I live across the street from Goss Lake, and last night [July 4] we were bombarded with extremely loud, extremely late into the night, fireworks. The fireworks were interspersed with explosions from something unknown, so loud they rattled the windows.

My husband said they were equivalent to about a one-quarter stick of dynamite.

Our dog and three cats were terrified. Then I opened our front door and stepped out on to the porch. About that time a car drove by, and its headlights shone on a deer — a terrified beyond description beautiful, innocent deer. The bombs would go off from one direction and she would start to run in the opposite direction. Then another would come from that direction and she would whirl around to run the other way. She probably thought she was being shot at. It upset me so much I couldn’t watch anymore and ran back into the house.

Fireworks shows are everywhere, Freeland, Oak Harbor, etc, They are spectacular. Why can’t they be enough? Why are some people so fixated on creating loud noise themselves in rural areas, late into the night, keeping people awake and terrifying wildlife? I will never, ever get that image of that poor deer out of my mind. And she was just one of many deer, including new fawns, that I know were equally terrified. And that’s not even to mention all the other wildlife living in this area.

The Fourth of July doesn’t make me proud, it just makes me incredibly sad.

LINDA HAUSER

Langley