Fireworks vendors feel heat to shut down

From KOB-TV.com - By: Eddie Garcia, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - Fireworks vendors have been feeling a lot of backlash because of the high fire danger. We asked a Socorro County vendor why they're choosing to stay open and what challenges they're facing this year. Outdoor enthusiast Wendy Meek says she grieves for the destruction wildfires are wreaking throughout New Mexico. It's a feeling at conflict with her day job as a firework vendor with tents in Socorro County and Peralta. She's been feeling the heat to shut down all season. "It's not as easy for vendors to close down because they've already invested a lot of money and they have employees that they have hired and started to pay," said Meek. She says considering all that's at stake - it's too late to close. We asked her, with these dangerously dry conditions, why she insists on staying open. "If I shut this down today I would have to fire all of the people, I would lose $ 30,000 it wouldn't be good for the state in the sense that everything we make taxes are paid and it goes to each individual county, so the counties would lose money," said Meek. Read more