Neighbors fired up over fireworks
Posted on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 3:08 pm
Tammi Best says her horse, which she rode for therapy, was injured as the result of fireworks on neighbor's property.
By Tim Cox/Editor
Tammi Best and Catherine Loughlin are fired up about fireworks – more specifically, fireworks displays hosted by a neighbor several times a year.
Best and Loughlin live on Pepmeier Hill Road in Woodford. Each woman owns a horse.
Their neighbors, Patrick and Paula Neustatter, hire a business to set off fireworks on their property a few times a year for special events.
Best and Loughlin said the fireworks displays have been disturbing to their horses; Best’s horse was injured, and Loughlin removed her horse and boards it elsewhere.
The women, who have complained to the Neustatters, asked the Caroline County Board of Supervisors to look into the issue. Best attended a June meeting of the supervisors and presented them with a petition. The petition, signed by Best, Loughlin and 17 others, asked the supervisors to review the issuance of permits for fireworks displays.
She never received any response or communication from the supervisors or county officials to the petition, according to Best.
Now, however, it appears that Best and Loughlin have the board’s attention. They appeared before the supervisors at their regular meeting on Tuesday of last week in order to air their complaints about the fireworks.
The supervisors initially suggested Best temporarily move her horse when the neighbors hold a fireworks display.
“I shouldn’t be required to move my horse (when the Neustatters) have fireworks,” Best said later. “It shouldn’t cost me money.
When she informed them of her disability, however, “That finally got their attention,” she said.
Board chairman Floyd Thomas indicated his support for regulations that would tighten requirements for fireworks displays.
The supervisors directed Mike Finchum, director of the county’s department of planning and community development, to draft proposed changes to zoning regulations impacting fireworks displays. Interim Fire-EMS Chief Mark Garnett will be involved in drafting the changes.
The supervisors also passed an emergency measure that would require any fireworks display permits issued prior to its next meeting to be signed by Thomas.
In addition, Finchum will be contacting the Neustatters to inform them that fireworks stored on their property must be removed. The county’s zoning ordinance does not allow businesses based in another locality to store fireworks at a home in a rural preservation district, according to Finchum.
“We’ll approach that through zoning,” Finchum explained later.
“We made some steps in the right directions,” Best said of the outcome of the meeting.
Best repeatedly said she has no dispute with the Neustatters but faulted county officials for approving the fireworks displays. County residents may apply to the department of fire-rescue and emergency management for a fireworks permit.
“We’re just upset that the county keeps issuing these permits when they know it’s causing problems,” said Best.
Best and her husband, David, have lived at their current home about six years after relocating from the Los Angeles area. Her husband transferred with his employer to a different position working out of Washington, D.C., and they looked for a home where they could continue to keep their horse. “This one happens to suit our needs perfectly,” said Best.
Her horse, which is 25 years old and has been owned by Best since it was eight months old, was injured during the first fireworks display held by the Neustatters after the Bests moved to Caroline. The horse panicked and ran out of the barn, ripping the shoe of its hoof and tearing the heel on the hoof, according to Best.
During a fireworks display at the Neustatters in July this year, the horse was locked in the barn because of a storm and again panicked, throwing out its back, hips and knees, and incurring veterinarian bills of $175, said Best. The Neustatters hosted another event last month, and her horse was spooked and ran into a fence, according to Best.
Her horse is a show horse that has been retrained for therapy, said Best. Riding the horse has a therapeutic effect on muscles that are impacted by her disability, she explained. However, the horse suffers ongoing injuries as a result of the fireworks incidents, and she may not be able to ride it any more for therapy, said Best.
Best said she complained to Neustatter about the fireworks whenever he happened to come over. The last time, he made light of the issue, saying, ‘I hope your horse doesn’t die this time,’ according to Best.
Best said she called the county’s 911 communications center to complain about the November fireworks show and was told that the Neustatters had a permit for the event and that authorities would not respond to her complaint.
Her main concern is that county officials continued to issue permits. “They don’t seem to care what’s happening to our properties,” she said. “Their only concern is that he can have fireworks whenever he wants.”
Loughlin said she removed her horse from her property and has boarded it since August. She was injured when her horse panicked during a 2008 fireworks display and she tried to control it, she said.
“I just fail to understand why the county has not heard what is happening to us because of the close proximity of our homes,” she said. She and her husband, Thomas, have lived there 15 years.
If the Neustatters lived “a mile down the road in the middle of 500 acres, we wouldn’t be having this discussion,” said Loughlin.
The horse is “secondary,” said Loughlin. “We can no longer enjoy our property. We don’t have the privilege of enjoying our property.”
Neustatter, a retired British physician, has lived on the property for 25 years, he said. He began hosting fireworks displays in 1988. The first one and subsequent events have been held around Nov. 5 to mark Guy Fawkes Day. Fawkes plotted to blow up England’s Houses of Parliament in 1605; the plot was foiled and Fawkes was captured and the triumph over anarchists is still celebrated in England.
Neustatter usually hosts two other fireworks displays a year – on Memorial Day and for a church picnic in the summer. Caroline fire officials are present on the property to ensure the fireworks are set off in compliance with safety regulations, the Neustatters noted. The displays last about 30 minutes. The events usually draw crowds of 100-200 people, they said.
They usually give advance notice to neighbors, they said. “We try to be as neighborly as possible,” said Neustatter.
He conceded the fireworks displays now are “a little bit more elaborate” than those held in years past.
For the most recent event on his property, in November, Neustatter said he instructed the fireworks company “to try to keep it [noise] down.”
The contractor who does the fireworks display is a paraplegic who has been doing the couple’s event for several years. Jacob Walther used to do the same type of work for the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus, according to the Neustatters, until he was injured in a motorcycle accident and paralyzed. His company did the fireworks display at the last Boy Scout National Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, they said.
He asked the Neustatters about putting on the displays at their home.
“It means a lot to Jake,” said Paula Neustatter.
The Neustatters offered to let Walther, whose company is based in Falmouth, store fireworks for his business on their property, and she obtained a necessary permit from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
They offered to pay for veterinary services for the Loughlins to have their horse tranquilized during fireworks displays, they said, but the Loughlins declined the offer.
The Neustatters noted that members of the Loughlin family visit a few times a year and do skeet shooting, but Best apparently does not object to that.
The skeet shooting causes less noise and is further away, noted Best. In addition, if the gunshots bother the horse, she can call the Loughlins and they will stop, she said.
“I don’t think it’s unsuitable to do this,” Paula Neustatter said of the fireworks displays.
“Whose rights should be upheld?” asked Neustatter, theirs or the neighbors?
