DETROIT -- Detroiters braced Thursday for another round of the always popular New Year's Eve event -- a hail of midnight gunfire to signal the arrival of the New Year.
'There's no way we could stop it unless we had a policeman standing at each house,' said Police Chief William Hart. 'There's a gun in almost every household, and everybody who has a gun shoots it at least once a year -- on New Year's Eve.'
Motor City residents are so used to the ruckus that little is usually said about it. But this year, a union leader said some of the city's garbage collectors were apprehensive about working New Year's Eve.
'The trucks are getting shot at during the rest of the year. Can you imagine what can happen New Year's Eve,' said Jimmy Hearns, president of Local 26 of the city employees' union.
Four months ago the city put some garbage collectors on a 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift -- and New Year's Eve is not a holiday for the workers.
But James Watts, head of the Department of Public works, said he has no intention of changing the schedule for the holiday.
Most Detroiters are used to the gunfire but admit they will take care as midnight approaches.
'I think it's a little nerve wracking, but it's something that everybody does in Detroit,' said Jack Davis, 33, an auto worker who lives on the east side -- one of the more prominent shooting areas. 'Sometimes it gets a little out of hand because it can cover up other crimes.'
Alison Wolfson, 25, a pharmacist, said she can't remember a New Year's Eve without gunfire.
'I grew up with it so that it just seems the same to me,' she said. 'At midnight, when I was growing up we used to open up the front door, turn off all the lights and listen to the gunfire.
'But I try not to be on the road at midnight in case a stray bullet might come through the area,' she added.
