The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-21
NO BONFIRES IN THE PARK
THE BOYS TOO LATE IN THEIR AP-
PEAL TO COUNCIL

an, erman Garrard SUCCESSFULLY OPP
mo. es the CustO m of Making the
ra.Ie Ground n Field of Confia-
,-,,,,r1s-No Objection 10 Fire
works, But Bon,dres Defaee the
Parade h1d Attract Disorderly
,r-o,vas-A LIVELY E'ebate over the
o-5inanee. 10 f'ermi BOniiFes.
The bovs will not buiItl bonhres in the
Park extension this CHI lstmas without
violating the city ordinaL &C. They VIII
probably build the fires all the same ana
give the police a chance TO P ut them out
Alderman Hudson made hard night
for The boys. and the rest or the alder
men were with him, with 1he exception
of Col Garrard. who objected 10 the I'M
mediate consideration of the amendment
allowing the bonhres.
Under the rules Of council, an oral-
nance cannot be passed at the sanIa' meet
ing al which it is introduced without
unanimous consent Of the members The
trouble is that the boys and their IN ei9s
did not start their agitation IN tin6 II
the amendment had been offered az the
1irst meeting IN December and consideie ca
at the second meeting they would have
been all right, the majority or the Doari
being in favor Of the amendment.
The subject came APP at the meeting OF
the committee Of the whole last night, l
and the meeting Of the committee was
temporarily converted into meeting of
council for the purpose of passing on the
matter. The committee OF the whole re-
ported, recommending that an ordinance
be introduced, amending the ute Oru-
nance SO as to allow Ionfres in the Park
extension from Dec q TO Jan. 2, inclu-
Eive, excepting Sunday.
An ordinance TO this effect was intro
duced and read. Alderman Hudson asked
that unanimous consent be given Tor the
ordnance to be placed on us passage
Alderman Garrard objected, and thus pre-
vented further action Alderman HUDSON /
viii bring the matter up aSaln at the
meeting Of council Monday night with
the hope of securing some concession In
favor Of the boys.
Col. Garrard stated TO a Morning News
reporter after the meeting that he had
no intention of interfering with or pre-
venting the proper enjoyment Of the
pleasures Of the season by the young peo-
THE facts of the case are simply these"
he said "At meeting Of council May Y
Alderman ScreNen introduced an ordi-
nance prohibiting bondres or the discharg-
ing OF fireworks during the Christmas
holidays in any part Of the city, with the
exception of the Park extension Alder
man Falligant objected that to enact such
an ordinance would be to make the Park
extension the center of all the Chris tmas
display, with the result that all the rough
characters of the town would gather there
and the place be turned into pandemo-
MUM. The ordinance was referred 10 the
committee Of the whole. on June ~,
nearly month later, after the matter
had been considered I'm the committee on
the whole, Alderman Screven introduced ,
substitute ordinance combining the use
the section south of Jones street, with
the exception Of Bull street, and prOhib-
ting bonfires in any portion of the city.
The ordinance was unanimously adopted.
The matter had been under consideration
for month, and the dealers in fireworks
and others had been before the commit
"a W mr. "a tod hot
claims, so you see that the ordinance was
not enacted hastily. The ordinance was
published officially, both before and after
ATS passage, and the fact or its passage
was announced in the Morning News"
mo further attention seems to have
been given the matter by anybody, said
Col Garrard, until the meeting of council
Wednesday night, when we were sudden
ly confronted with petitions requesting
an amendment to the ordinance so as to
allow bonfires in the park extension, and
without giving any consideration at all
TO the merits of the matter some OF the
aldermen Immediately declared in favor
of granting the request. i objected to
immediate action in order that the mat
ter might be given proper consideration.
of the whole tonight a majority
voted in favor of amending the ordinance
as requested. ! was not alone, however,
though my objection was the technical
point which prevented the ordinance
from being passed upon tonight. My po-
sition is that the same objections which
bonfires in the extension. If the permits
sion should be granted there would be a
great number Of bonhres in the extern
sion or parade ground and the appear
ance Of the place would be greatly mar
red. Holes would be dug all over the
place II Is said, however. that the boys
would not be allowed to dig holes. The
reason for digging holes is to keep the
rosin which is used in these bonfres
from running over the ground. If the
holes are not dug the rosin will run over
the grass and injury done in this man
ner. Wherever a bonfire Is built the
grass is killed. To burn over the sur
face Of the ground does not inture the
grass. but fires of this kind kin the roots
and 1t is months before the grass grows
out again. The result would be that the
parade ground would look like a plague
spot for months 10 come. There is no
great general demand for this exception.
have had many citizens and
taxpayers come to me and ex-
press their approval of my posi-
ton, especially those living around the
parade ground, who would have to suffer
the annoyance of the crowds which gather
there. There is no reason why the liD-
erty granted for the use of fireworks dur
ing the holidays by the ordinance should
be enlarged. The free use of fireworks
is allowed in all that portion of the city
south of Jones street, a space mile ana
a half square. /, for one, do not propose
TO be budged from position which was
unanimously Endorsed by the whole board
six months ago by sort Of sentimental
appeal"
mas NHyEUErS nv r,xrrr nnu-x-