Murfreesboro City Council will consider shortening the fireworks selling season and banning reloadable mortar shells Thursday night.

“Fireworks will still be legal to sell and use in the city limits of Murfreesboro,” Councilman David Edwards said. “The only one we are addressing is mortars.”

Should the ordinance pass the council, the fireworks selling season will be reduced by one day – going from June 27- July 5 and Dec. 25-Jan. 2 to June 28-July 5 and Dec. 26-Jan.2 – and the sell and possession of mortar shells will be banned outright.

Edwards said the way the law is written buying mortar shells outside of town and bringing them here would be illegal, because possession of mortars is also banned along with selling the shells.

“It’s like so many other things, the inappropriate choices of a few restricting the fun of others,” Edwards said.

Edwards has first hand knowledge of inappropriate choices concerning fireworks, he was hit by one on the Fourth of July this year when he was accompanying a MPD officer on rounds.

As Edwards sat in a police cruiser, a mortar shell was fired from between two houses, hit the ground near the car, bounced up and debris from the firework singed hair on his arm and leg.

“It apparently, from what officers told me later, hit the ground right under the door, went under the car, ricocheted and bounced up into the air about 5 to 10 feet from the squad car,” Edwards recalled at the time.

Edwards also cited recent incidents with a police officer in Columbia this summer and another involving two Murfreesboro Police Officers last summer.

The Murfreesboro incident led Police Chief Glenn Chrisman to request a ban on virtually all fireworks in May. The council decided to take a closer look at the issue at the time and declined making a decision.

Edwards said it was these incidents and not the recent fire at Fireworks Supermarket that prompted the proposed ban on mortar shells.

Public Hearings

- For a proposed amendment to the Planned Signage (PS) Overlay District for approximately 100 acres located along Medical Center Parkway. View map.

- For a proposed amendment to the Zoning Ordinance regarding Planned Developments and GDO Districts; Planning Staff, applicant. Notice of said public hearing was published in the October 4, 2008 issue of a local newspaper.

- For a zoning request for approximately 5.49 acres along Avenue Way to be rezoned from CH to PCD; Omni Hospitality, LLC, applicant. View map.

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.