ANOTHER FIREWORK DUD!

      Growing up a young Chinese boy, we had a love for fireworks, especially firecrackers. I remember buying firecrackers by the brick in Chinatown in NYC. One thing I do remember is that it scared the hell out of me to light them anywhere near my body. I would light them and run. My cousins used to be the nutbags who would light them in their hands and then throw them just before they would explode. To me, that was just nuts! They would also aim bottle rockets at each other. That used to freak me out as well. 

      Well, this past Monday, I didn't get to blog, but I posted a story on my Facebook page about 22-year-old Devon Staples, who died after waving a lit firework, which we now hear he thought was a dud, near his head at a backyard party in Maine. This confirmed all my fears as a young Chinese boy about lighting firecrackers or fireworks too close to your body. If you ask me, leave the firework shows to the professionals.

     Now, it turns out, Staples wasn't the only dud to die on July 4th due to firework injuries. 30-year-old Justin Bartek (pictured) from Texas died after shooting a firework off his chest this past Tuesday,making him the second person killed by lighting a firework off his body this week. Bartek, a postal work (which explains a lot), was lighting fireworks with friends at the Dollar Hole fishing spot off the Colorado River in Columbus early on Tuesday.

     He put the device called a Medieval Knight to his chest and it exploded, critically injuring him immediately. Bartek later died at an area hospital. He leaves behind a 3-year-old son, Braxton, and his longtime partner Summer Jenkins (pictured). A friend of Bartek's said about his infectious spirit, "He was the light of many people's lives and the world to the people that knew him, and he would give the world to any that asked."

     Friends of his mother, Butter Bartek, consoled her for her loss of such a "great person" on Facebook. One friend commented, "He would hug me every time he would see me! His smile would just absorb you." I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Bartek might have been a great guy and all, but if he would have just used his noggin for a quick minute, nobody would be mourning their loss today. I mean who holds an explosive to their chest? A smart person? I hate talking trash about the dead, but between Staples and Bartek, come on! It's an explosive you're waving around! It's like waving around a loaded gun! Someone's going to get hurt! I'm sure both these guys were nice guys, but using their brains should rule out niceness any day. I'm a nice guy and I use my brain. I guess I'm the total package. I can't wait to see what people write about me when I die.....Oh wait. 

     Anyway, an autopsy will be conducted to determine the exact manner Bartek died and whether he meant to light it off his chest. Bartek's mother said that his brother was also injured in a July 4th accident, but didn't specify what the injury was. Hey! Anyone want to go out side and light some fireworks off my toes? Apparently, it's all the rage! Come on people! Seriously! Leave the firework show to those who know how!