There’s been some fireworks over fireworks in Thermopolis this week.
The Hot Springs High School football team has been enjoying a great season and is now a contender as a No. 2 seed in the Class 2A playoffs. Parents and locals have been celebrating with fireworks and mortar rounds.
The problem is, nobody told the rest of the town about the fireworks, which came as a startling surprise to several military veterans, many of whom had visceral reactions to the loud mortar rounds fired within city limits.
In fact, they had been fired less than a mile away from VFW Thermopolis Post 2281.
"We're an artillery state," said Brad Becerra, a veteran and commander of VFW Post 2881. "We're around loud booms all the time, but we know they're coming. A lot of people get triggered and irate when they're surprised, and I'm right there with them."
The fireworks were fired off after each touchdown the Bobcats scored in their 21-12 regular season-ending win over Pinedale on Oct. 24. The plan is to do it again Friday in the first playoff game against Burns in Thermopolis.
After a firestorm of reaction on social media about the fireworks, the town of Thermopolis is taking the feedback as a wake-up call. Mayor Adam Estenson said it's time for better communication.
"I would say a lot of good has come from this," he said. "We can educate the community on issues surrounding PTSD and talk about how we disseminate and cascade information to the people of Thermopolis. There's a lot of modernizing that needs to happen."
Boom, Boom, Boom
Becerra wasn't under the Friday night lights watching the game last Friday. He had just returned home to Thermopolis after working with the Wyoming Army National Guard in Lander.
"I went to another lady's house just down the street to pick some stuff up," he said. "The football game had started, we were sitting there talking, when all of a sudden it was just a huge bang. It rattled the door, it rattled the windows, and it shook me."
Becerra, who's been deployed to Afghanistan and Syria, said he was caught completely off-guard.
He went to the nearby VFW Post 2281 and encountered a fellow veteran, diagnosed with PTSD, who was showing symptoms of a panic attack.
"I'm talking with him, and boom, it happened again," he said. "And as we were sitting there at the VFW talking, another one went off, and my friend started pacing up and down. Seeing one of my comrades do that really made me angry."
One of the bartenders at the post told Becerra that fireworks and mortar rounds were being set off for every touchdown scored by the Hot Springs High School football team, followed by an even-bigger boom when they won the game.
When Becerra went home, his wife, Thermopolis Town Council member Rachel Hughes, confirmed that the council had unanimously approved the use of fireworks during football games.
He went to pick up his son, who's on the football team, when he experienced the game-winning fireworks.
"That really set me off," he said. "I called Hot Springs County Dispatch to see how many calls they had had come in. I was in a very bad place that night, and I was very upset that my fellow comrades were going through that, and that my wife was seeing me go through that."
Becerra took to social media to express his anger with the town of Thermopolis. His own wife had voted to approve fireworks during football games, but he was entirely unaware of it until it caught him and other veterans off guard.
"The town dropped the ball," he said. "The communication between the town and the residents is almost nonexistent. It's very plain. They weren't putting out information that affects the town."
Team Spirit
The Hot Springs High School football team has had a season worth celebrating. They had a regular season record of 7-1 and are preparing to host their first home playoff game in years on Halloween.
"This is the first time we've hosted a playoff game in my tenure," said Brandon Deromedi, the activities director for Hot Spring County School District No. 1. "We finished second in the 2A West conference. In my 12-year tenure, I'd say this is our best season yet."
One group celebrating the football team's success is the Gridiron Club, a parent group that's been working to bolster team spirit on the field and in the stands.
Deromedi described the Gridiron Club as a "pretty young" organization that has been very active over the last two years.
"They started doing things last year, and really grew this year," he said. "They purchased a tunnel that has our logo on it for the team to run through ... as a hype piece and something fun for the team."
The touchdown and game-winning fireworks celebrations are another hype piece the Gridiron Club wanted to bring to home games but didn't pay for.
The parents went through all the proper channels to get permission, including a unanimous vote by the Thermopolis Town Council and oversight by the Thermopolis Volunteer Fire Department.
When Becerra shared his anger over the lack of information about this decision, Mayor Estenson sought him out.
They've had "phenomenal" discussions since then, and Estenson agreed that the community "was not adequately informed ahead of time (and) that responsibility rests with me."
"I'll take responsibility for the lack of communication, but I'm more about action than words," he said. "It's what we do next that counts."
Communication And Compromise
Since Becerra shared his frustrations over the Friday night fireworks, he said he's received a lot of backlash from the community. He's been accused of "trying to take away from the kids," but he's adamant that this isn't what he intended.
"That's not my point," he said. "On the Fourth of July, a lot of pet owners and veterans know what's coming. They can leave town or have things in place to handle it.
"The point is that we are not giving appropriate time to notify the residents and put a plan in place."
Becerra also pointed out that on the Fourth of July, fireworks are launched from T-Hill a considerable distance from town. The mortar rounds being fired during the football game were from the 300 block of Amoretti Street, which is only half a mile from VFW Post 2281.
"That makes a difference," he said. "When they're shooting mortars off on T-Hill, you don't feel the repercussion from that. But when they're downtown, it's way different. It's much louder and closer. It shakes everything, like it would in a combat zone."
It isn't the fireworks and mortars that have Becerra concerned. His primary issue is how the town of Thermopolis doesn't communicate with its residents.
"We witnessed stuff in the past that the town did without notifying residents," he said. "They recently put up three stop signs and didn't notify anyone until the exact day they were put up. There was no forewarning."
Estenson agreed with Becerra's points, saying the local government needs to modernize and prioritize communication.
"It just came down to communication and forced me to give a good, hard look at how we're communicating," he said. "I'm not going to go knock on everybody's door to let them know what's going on after each town council meeting, but we will work to make sure people are better informed."
Estenson said he and the Thermopolis Town Council are looking at ways they can revamp and modernize their communication policies. He described it as "a big, huge project" but one that's well worth the time and effort.
"There's the adage that you have to eat an elephant one bite at a time," he said. "This gives us a direction. It's our first bite."
Noises Off
The Thermopolis Town Council will have its next meeting Nov. 4. Becerra has agreed to give a presentation on PTSD and the deleterious impact of fireworks and mortar rounds on the mental and physical health of combat veterans.
"Bringing this information on issues of PTSD is a great opportunity to educate the council and community before Veterans Day," Estenson said. "I would say a lot of good has come from this."
Meanwhile, the Hot Springs Bobcats are preparing to host the Burns Broncs on their home turf of LeRoy Hayes Field on Friday. The Gridiron Club has fireworks and mortar rounds ready to go for each touchdown and, hopefully, the game-winner.
Becerra's son is on the Hot Springs High School football team, and he wants to celebrate their success with the rest of the community. As the commander of VFW Post 2281, he feels he's obligated to advocate for the well-being of local veterans.
"We're not trying to squash the mortars going off or anything that has to do with celebrating our kids," he said. "Ultimately, we're all here to have a good time, and we're here to support everybody.
"It's a community, and these things are affecting people, so we should probably use a little more caution before we decide to go forward with something like this."
Estenson confirmed there will be more celebratory fireworks shot off during Friday's football game in his first "Update from the Mayor," a weekly Facebook post he'll use to keep the community updated on what's happening in Thermopolis.
While he wants to find a compromise that's considerate of the community as a whole, he hope there will be plenty of noise Friday.
"I don't mean this out of spite for anybody who is opposed to the fireworks by any means, but we sure hope to hear a lot of fireworks come Friday night," he said. "Go Bobcats!"
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
