Enjoy A “Safe and Sane” Holiday Weekend

When Americans celebrated the Fourth of July at the turn of the 20th century, they did so in such rowdy fashion that vandalism and destruction of both public and private property were commonplace.

This rampant hooliganism was suppressed only when public officials and the public-at-large decided that the holiday should be observed in a “safe and sane” fashion.

Although our Fourth of July celebrations today are much more restrained than in those days, there still are many who go a bit overboard in their holiday observances, and that will be especially true this long holiday weekend.

America is in the midst of an opioid epidemic that is killing people left and right, but overindulging in alcohol by far still is our number one public health problem. Drunk driving, drunk boating, drunk swimming, and using fireworks (which are illegal in the first place) while under the influence will result in thousands of deaths and injuries across our nation this weekend — all because too many among us will drink way too much.

So we urge our readers to make sure that they and their loved ones do not become one of those sad statistics. It is up to each of us to be responsible not only for ourselves, but also for those we care about. If someone among us is drinking too much, take their keys and make sure they are safe — none of us wants to think the day after, “If only I’d stopped him (or her) from getting behind the wheel…”

We wish all of our readers a happy, safe, and sane Fourth of July.