The Sky Lantern Departs: In Hawaii

Even as I was celebrating the arrival of sky lanterns the other day, at least in Michigan, I now learn that the State of Hawaii was already in the process of causing their permanent departure. Today’s Wall Street Journal tells me that these have been outlawed there. They represent a fire hazard. Well, in a way, yes. There is a statistical probability that lanterns that go up when the fire is lit, and go down when the fire is out, might conceivably produce a fire. But the same logic ought also to have caused Hawaii, with much more logic, to ban cigarette lighters.