{"id":65762,"date":"2019-07-12T14:44:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T20:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/silvertons-fourth-of-july-out-of-control-officials-say\/"},"modified":"2019-07-12T20:44:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T20:44:00","slug":"silvertons-fourth-of-july-out-of-control-officials-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/silvertons-fourth-of-july-out-of-control-officials-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Silverton\u2019s Fourth of July out of control, officials say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Event
Event organizers have turned Silverton\u2019s Fourth of July celebration into a more family-friendly event. But there are still issues to be worked out, said San Juan County Sheriff Bruce Conrad.<\/span>Courtesy of Geoffrey Johnson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

After a chaotic and dangerous Fourth of July celebration, Silverton\u2019s flagship event of the year must make drastic changes, event organizers say.<\/p>\n

San Juan County Sheriff Bruce Conrad said authorities were overwhelmed July 4 by drunken behavior, illegal fireworks and \u201cendless displays of aggression.\u201d He said next year, a stronger police force will be needed to help with the unruly crowd.<\/p>\n

Gilbert Archuleta, chief of the Silverton-San Juan Fire and Rescue Authority, said three firefighters were injured setting off the town\u2019s famed firework display. Firefighters voted Tuesday to end the show unless an electronic system, which costs $6,000, is purchased.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the crowds we\u2019re attracting (are) not the crowd we want here,\u201d Conrad said. \u201cThey get drunk. They fight. They act like the rules don\u2019t apply to them \u2026 and we don\u2019t need them up here defecating on our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Fourth of July celebration draws thousands of visitors to enjoy the mountainous scenery and fireworks show, one of the biggest on the Western Slope.<\/p>\n

In recent years, however, rampant debauchery has stressed the town\u2019s ability to handle the event.<\/p>\n

The issue came to a head in 2016, when a 14-year-old boy from Durango, partying with a large group of underage drinkers, drank too much<\/a> and almost died. Later in the day, a part-time volunteer with Silverton\u2019s fire department drove off a county road and went into Cement Creek. He was suspected of drunken driving.<\/p>\n

At the time, DeAnne Gallegos, director of the Silverton Area Chamber of Commerce, said the 2016 celebration served as a \u201cmajor wake-up call.\u201d The next year, organizers sought to change the tone of the event<\/a> by providing more family-friendly events.<\/p>\n

The event went off successfully in 2017<\/a>, Conrad said. And the celebration posed no difficulties last year when the 416 Fire raged south toward Durango.<\/p>\n

But all that changed this year.<\/p>\n

The issue was first reported by the Silverton Standard & the Miner<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Conrad said two motorcyclists were caught riding nearly 60 mph on a residential road. Illegal fireworks and open containers of alcohol were widespread and uncontrolled, and officers responded to several late-night fights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get these full-faced tattooed gangsters from Albuquerque and Grand Junction who tend to be pretty aggressive,\u201d the sheriff said.<\/p>\n

Archuleta said the fireworks show featured 1,800 shells. However, four exploded on the ground, shooting off debris and injuring three firefighters. One person required stitches.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen shells explode like that, everyone in the vicinity could get injured very seriously or even die,\u201d Archuleta said.<\/p>\n

All the large shells in the show are set off electronically, Archuleta said. But the smaller shells that injured his crew are still launched by hand, and Archuleta doesn\u2019t want to take chances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not trying to hold anyone hostage, but we won\u2019t do the show unless we can do it safely,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve taken all the precautions we can, and it\u2019s worked out until now, and we just can\u2019t take chances anymore. It is scary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallegos said residents feel this year\u2019s Fourth of July celebration was a success. Despite the bad behavior, no one was arrested and no one was seriously injured. And, throughout the day, families enjoyed the downtown offerings, like the Carnival in the Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think about where we came from three years ago, this is still a more wholesome and better environment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Still, there\u2019s room for improvement, especially because the Fourth of July celebration will fall on Saturday next year, Gallegos said.<\/p>\n

Conrad said he will seek assistance and extra officers from neighboring communities next year. He also plans to use video surveillance throughout town to catch people who break the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re publicizing we\u2019re not tolerating it, and we will charge people who act like the rules don\u2019t apply,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To donate money for an electronic launch system, give to the Friends of the Fire Department, PO Box 532, Silverton, CO 81433.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

County sheriff: Drunken behavior sours small town\u2019s biggest event<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[168,28,327],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-65762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-crime","tag-headlines","tag-silverton"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65762"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=65762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}