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From: wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler)
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Fireworks Warning
Message-ID: <835@pyuxa.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 25-Jun-84 11:00:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxa.835
Posted: Mon Jun 25 11:00:42 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 28-Jun-84 01:24:55 EDT
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J.
Lines: 25

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WARNING-WARNING
This weekend, I was witness to a horrible preventable accident.
I saw a guy blow his entire hand off with a 1/4 stick of
tnt, lovingly called a 'block buster'.  We spent the next hour
picking up parts of his hand all over the street and sidewalk.
This guy was no youngster.  He is 31 years old, married, two
kids.  He worked in a Pizza Parlor in Brooklyn and was helping
a couple of other guys celebrate a soccor victory.  They were
throwing small packages of firecrackers out in the street, when
Nunzio (his name) decided to bring out the big stuff.  I was down the
block, fortunatly, when Nunzio tried to light his 1/4 stick.
The fuse went too fast.  His hand was blown right OFF.  

Now I am no prude about fireworks, and have popped my share, but
if anything ever brought the true nature of the dangers involved
in playing with this stuff home, it was seeing the stuned look
on Nunzios face when he realized what had happened.  This poor
guy will never be able to work in a Pizza Joint again, his
only proffesion.  Please, people, don't play with the big
stuff.  Keep an eye on the kids and don't let them have the big
ones.  I know it's hard to do, and firecrackers can be fun if
they are handled with extreme caution, but the type of thing
I saw this weekend has made a believer out of me.
T. C. Wheeler