-- Everett,
Wa. 1985. "About a half-mile of brush was ablaze early today on the 2-mile-long
sand jetty, when Thor, a 150-pound, 24-inch-wide shell, misfired at the end of the city's
fireworks display. The $3000 shell was to have shot 2,700 feet into the sky
with 10 smaller shells and burst into a flower-shaped rainbow of jets over a square mile
with a boom heard in Seattle, about 15 miles away."
-- Shamokin,
Pa. 1985. In the central Pennsylvania coal town of Shamokin a 160-pound
chrysanthemum shell six feet around [would you believe 24"] went off as planned
with a colorful display seen 24 to 30 miles away. The shell burst 1,200 feet over the
center of the town at the end of a 360-shell finale. It was touched off electrically
by an operator in fire-resistant clothing, ear protectors and a hard hat standing nearly a
half-mile away.
