If you attended the fireworks show last Saturday night at Effingham County High School, we hope you enjoyed it. And we hope you enjoy the annual Rincon 4th of July Parade and Festival scheduled for Saturday.

Both events are family-friendly and safe for everybody. It’s a good way to start and enjoy the holiday weekend.

As we celebrate the hard-won freedom of our nation — a freedom that has become the example for many to follow and for some to resent — keep in mind the safety of those around you as they also revel in Independence Day.

Law enforcement officers will be out in force, patrolling the roads for speeders, erratic drivers and drivers who appear to be under the influence. It’s those who have had a little too much or way too much to get behind the wheel who not only put themselves in danger but everyone else on the same road with them.

If you think you’ve had too much, you have, so find someone else to take the keys to the car or the boat.

We certainly want everyone to have a good time as the nation marks its 233rd year of independence. But we hope you do so without putting anyone else in peril. Too many good people have suffered and struggled from Valley Forge to Normandy to the Chosin Reservoir to Ramadi and Kandahar to preserve that freedom for us and for others for someone else to selfishly put someone else’s life in danger.