Deputies seize large cache of fireworks at Aptos home - Santa C...

Holding a large homemade firework, Aptos/La Selva Fire Battalion Chief Jim Dias said Tuesday that the cardboard tube with a 4-inch green fuse not only looked like dynamite, it had the same explosive power.

[Oh come onnnnnnnnnnnnn]

Plastering the guy's face in the paper like he is a murdered or child molester is ridicules. Okay, we get it. It's illegal and there is dry grass around. But, really, they are fireworks and fireworks are suppose to explode. So now he goes to jail with people who make bombs to kill people? Oh how scary. The scary bad man smokes pot too. Oooooooh.

[Old Aptos Resident]

Willis is the sweetest man. Sounds like a bunch of Sentinel hype.

[LOCALSC]

Looks like the stuff he had could in fact be considered "bombs." Those weren't sparklers. We always hear about "people over the hill" coming here and setting off dangerous fireworks endangering our community, and here we have a local business man doing just that.....endangering our community. Had that stuff, along with his homemade bombs exploded, he may have killed himself and put his neighbors at risk. He knew this stuff was illegal, took the risk for money, and now must face the consequences.

[Nice Work Matlock]

Fireworks = Billboard sign rented to show mug shot.

Shootings/Stabbings = Small blurb in paper if anything.

Way to keep your priorities in order!

[NotGONNAHappen]

With all the recent fire activity I would think nice or not it is called COMMON SENSE...and to have these stored in his backyard in pure STUPIDITY and GREED!
You break a law especially at a felony level guess what your face is plastered everywhere...it is called TIMING! Born in raised in Aptos it humors me to think people actually believe this town is above any others...this shall be a wake up there are slime balls all over Santa Cruz County.
As for me I will stay on my cell phone and rack up the misdemenor charges, perhaps my mug shot will be next!

[isaacgrahamsugly stepchild]

sounds like a classic santa cruz character to me...to bad about endangering his neighbors, however

[wildman]

Glad to see the sentiment has changed from yesterday. There are way more serious things for the police to pursue. Because of the two recent fires, neither of which involved fireworks, this bust made good newspaper hype. Mr. Bailey is likely a nice man. Do all you folks know what your neighbors are doing or how they may be endangering you?

[yeah right]

If he was mexican you'd all be outraged and screaming for deportation for putting others in danger but since it's a well-off white guy it's just 'boys will be boys'. He's 53 years old and not a boy by any stretch and he should have known better and had more respect for his neighbors.

[cindylou]

I live in Arkansas where fireworks stands are like grocery stores. They are everywhere. Unlimited supply of the biggest, most spectacular fireworks, all the stuff that is illegal in California. I was amazed the first time I shopped at one, you grab a shopping cart and load it up with M80s, firecrackers by the bricks, all the rockets you can think of, festival bombs with the equipment to shoot them into the air, big huge (one item) packed with 200 explosions and it costs (they would say reasonable here) $100 for the one piece. It is an endless supply of fireworks, from sparklers to big huge bombs. You would have to see the stores to believe it. I need to save my fireworks money for gas these days.

[Box store mentality]

Going to prison for "Box store mentality?" If he had only one joint and only a few homemade fireworks would anyone care? And where was the Dateline sting operation? Obviously hundreds upon hundreds of Aptos residents were buying from him.

[hmmm]

In this year of record fires, his fireworks were neither safe nor sane. Too bad about the pot, but I'm glad to see the fireworks off the street this year.

[Tyrone]

I hate fireworks!
They are noisy and they stink!

[antipyro]

Well done, Sheriff Robbins!

[Pinocio]

Hey it's not like this guy was building scale model railroads in his garage. I'm sure his skills will be put to use in prison. Maybe he can start by spending the next week by picking up all of the spent fireworks and class on the beaches...

[Woody]

Rockets and other arial fireworks aren't safe for obvious reasons, but there are many paved and concrete areas in this rural county where regular ground-based fireworks could be safely let off.

I feel bad for Bailey. He was obviously snitched-on by a neighbor. Probably the same neighbor who has enjoyed the fireworks and the pot in previous years.

What will the anti-fire mafia come up with next? Permits to buy matches or a lighter?

[dansk]

ok Deputies you have 3 days to catch the people that sell fireworks in the Seabright area. Keep a watch at the corner of Seabright and Windsor.

[Westside Dave]

I am surprised they did not use their new ATV bikes in this bust. The city could really use all the money the cops waste doing pointless crap.

[the dog]

I'm and Aptos resident, what am I gonna do now, I need my fireworks, I gotta have my fireworks, he was my supplier for fireworks. If I don't get some fireworks soon I'm gonna be in big trouble here, I could get desperate and do something. I could turn bad, do bad things. Damn, what step is this.

This guy didn't live very far from the Trabing fire. Can you guess the havoc if you were and engine co. heading up his driveway if that stuff started going off. You might need some of his pot to calm yourself back down. Your ears would still be ringing.

[lower ocean local]

actually this was not that large of a cache....... 1500 pounds seems like a lot, but it is not. the fact is, all of that could be let off on one fourth of july evening, it is about one quarter of the size of a small professional fire works show for one night.so this is actually an amount of fireworks that is conceivable for a large family and their friends. as for this stuff being dangerous, yes it is. i do seriously doubt that fireworks set off at the beach, and pointed towards the ocean are going to start any fires. yeah the beach becomes like a war zone, and that can be scary, which is why i avoid the beach on the fourth. bummer about the weed, i don't know why they even mention it. it is just herb, i don't puff anymore, but i don't see an issue with it. i know plenty of folks who have a large head stash, for their family members to enjoy. my point is, if you don't know the whole story, don't make judgments. obviously many posters here know little about fireworks, and nothing about the bailey family. i know a little about fireworks, i have a friend who works in the pyrotechnic industry. i choose to watch the discovery channel, or other educational television, rather than some stupid sit com, when i do choose to look at the idiot box. i am by no means an expert on the subject. but i do know that 500 pounds was found in a car last year, near the beach, on the fourth.

[Fire Marshall Bill]

Mr. Bailey is a certified pyrotechnician and a member of the Pryotechnic Association of Arizona. Some of the fireworks ksbw had on the news were in fact collector fireworks..including the large "Tire-Wheel" from China circa 1950's, the older Black Cat firecrackers stopped manufacture in the early 60's. Several other Chinese brands I recognised as being very old, possibly from the 1940's-50's. I'd bet much of the catch wasn't ment for the beach.