SPECTACULAR FIREWORKS IN MORONGO BASIN

The first-ever Fourth of July fireworks shows in the Morongo Basin that were synchronized to music, broadcast live on the air on Z107.7, went off without a hitch last night. The music was synced with the 25-minute shows in both Twentynine Palms and Yucca Valley to appreciative crowds. In Landers, the Third of July fireworks were also spectacular, although much shorter. That show is entirely dependent upon donations received by organizers, and this year, they only received enough money for a five-to-six minute show. As onlookers at Homestead Valley Park in Landers focused on the finale, the fireworks crew extinguished a small brush fire along a fence line sparked by some of the fireworks which appeared particularly low in the sky this year. According to event organizer Roxanna Shamay, there was more excitement on the road leading out from the park when an apparently intoxicated off-roader lost control on Belfield Blvd. and was knocked unconscious when he crashed into two parked vehicles. The accident snarled traffic at its height at the end of the event.