The recent New Year’s Eve brought the largest aerial show that we have ever seen on Oahu. Pretty clearly, the people have spoken. They are going to have their fireworks.

The current Legislature is working on a number of bills to ban aerials. But let’s face it: They are already illegal, and there are simply too many of them to be stopped.

So maybe it is time to reexamine the whole situation.

Looking back at the 1970s, Oahu’s people celebrated New Year’s with multiple long strings of a hundred firecrackers. This became so popular that very dense, deep smoke clogged the city and was truly dangerous. Large numbers of people were hospitalized, and there were a number of deaths. There was no way to avoid the smoke. Everyone could agree that it was getting out of hand. Laws were made outlawing all large fireworks, and allowing firecrackers only with a permit.

Decades have passed, and people have moved into aerials and bomb blasts. Aerials are beautiful, and our population is not in agreement that they should be banned. Our people are pretty united, however, that the loud blasts that shake neighborhoods must go. So let’s talk about them first.

The loud bomb-blast fireworks are against the law. And there is a way to get rid of them . On Oahu, the Honolulu Police Department has created CrimeStoppers, a way to report a crime anonymously. Just call (808) 955-8300, or go to www.honolulucrimestoppers.org and click on “Submit a Tip.” There could be public service announcements all over TV and radio as a new year approaches, telling people how to report these bomb blasts anonymously. The police department should be working the site to accommodate reports of bomb-blast fireworks, and visit homes to warn people that their neighbors are reporting their illegal setting-off of bomb blasts. Such visits should be enough to end future bomb blasts.

As for aerial fireworks: As long as they remain illegal, not much can be done (as evidenced). If some were legal, they could be regulated.

Today, there are low-noise aerials; videos of them are seen on the internet. They look quite beautiful, possibly even more beautiful than what we are exploding. And they certainly would reduce the noise. If low-noise aerials were legalized, stores could bring only these into the state. People could buy them openly. CrimeStoppers could be used by the community to report loud-noise aerials. And the noise level of our whole New Year’s Eve celebration could, in just a year or two, be reduced, possibly to where it is little problem.

With lower noise, pets might still have to be given some mild sedatives. In the weeks preceding Dec. 31, TV and radio stations might invite commercials from animal sedative makers, letting more people know of this way to calm their pets.

If low-noise aerials were legalized, stores also could bring in only the safest. Buyers could be required to certify that all who would handle them had watched an internet video on how to use them safely. This could reduce the number of injuries.

Who knows what kind of advances we might find if low-noise aerials were made legal? There might even be some aerial makers whose products produce less smoke. This could help those with breathing problems.

During the years of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the Fourth of July was the great day of celebration. That changed with the monarchy’s overthrow by the United States. But our people still loved to celebrate. New Year’s Eve was already a time of special celebration with many of our ethnic cultures. It has truly become our local night of celebration. Working together, we could create a joyous, distinctly Hawaiian, New Year’s Eve event that all of our people would love and embrace.

Kapolei resident Kioni Dudley, Ph.D., is a retired educator and longtime community activist.