A young man who was drinking and celebrating the Fourth of July tried to launch a firework off the top of his head, fatally injuring himself, authorities said on Sunday.
Devon Staples and his friends had been drinking and setting off fireworks on Saturday night in the backyard of a friend’s home in the small eastern Maine city of Calais, said Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the state department of public safety.
Staples, 22, of Calais, placed a fireworks mortar tube on his head and set it off, McCausland said.
The firework exploded, killing Staples instantly.
His death is the first fireworks fatality in Maine since the state legalised fireworks on 1 January 2012, authorities said.
Calais is on the Canadian border near New Brunswick.
State fire marshals were investigating several other Fourth of July fireworks accidents involving injuries in Friendship, Jefferson, Lebanon and Woodstock. They said most of the accidents involved burns and eye injuries. McCausland said further details were expected to be released later on Sunday.
In 2011, lawmakers voted to repeal a 1949 state law banning fireworks, reasoning that the industry would create jobs and generate additional revenue.
Light headed
Light headed
Yet another "hey watch this" fatality
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Light headed
He really blew it.
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oldr_n_wsr
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Re: Light headed
He wasn't a redneck from the south????? 
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MajGenl.Meade
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Re: Light headed
He is now
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
Re: Light headed
For those not aware, Calais, Maine is pronounced 'Cal-ass' - not the standard French pronunciation. It's way downeast Maine, where folks still sound like they're from Cornwall. It's in Washington County, consistently one of the poorest in the entire country. It's Maine's Appalachia.
The gene pool is fairly shallow. Poor kid!
The gene pool is fairly shallow. Poor kid!
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
~ Carl Sagan
Re: Light headed
While I feel bad for him and those who cared about him, 22 is hardly a kid. Indeed, if you don't know how stupid that act is at 22, I'd bet you'd never know. I'm sure the alcohol played a part, but this guy doesn't seem like he was ever playing with a full deck (possibly due to that gene pool).
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MajGenl.Meade
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Re: Light headed
I guess if he was a redneck, right now he's a burn-out?
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts