Article: Fourth marred by illegal fireworks Ban can't deter illegal fireworks Illegal fireworks mar July 4th

OAKLAND -- Oakland officials made a big point of warn-

ing how they would crack down on illegal fireworks this year, rolling out multilingual billboards, setting up a new complaint hot line and establishing new fines for people caught with the black- market explosives.

But some Oakland residents say the window-rattling booms and bright flashes of illegal cherry bombs, Roman candles and M-80 explosives shot off this holiday weekend were just as bad, if not worse, than last year.

And no one was even answering the fireworks hot line, whose voice mail box quickly filled up and stopped accepting messages. Residents who turned to the Police Department's non-emergency line to register complaints ...

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