YOUNGSTOWN Fireworks business files suit over deal

If another fireworks company is allowed to transfer its licenses, so should B.J. Alan, the lawsuit says.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Fireworks distributor B.J. Alan Fireworks Co. is trying to stop another Ohio fireworks company from moving to a new location.
Youngstown-based B.J. Alan, which operates Phantom Fireworks stores in Youngstown and near Columbiana, filed a complaint Friday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court against the state fire marshal.
B.J. Alan is asking that a settlement between the fire marshal and Safety 4th Fireworks be declared void or B.J. Alan be allowed to transfer its licenses to other locations under the same terms.
At issue: B.J. Alan has said it is out of room at its Martin Luther King Boulevard warehouse and is considering either expanding or moving. It has said it may have to move to Pennsylvania because an Ohio law prohibits fireworks licenses from being transferred to a different city or township in Ohio.
The legal action involves the fire marshal's granting Safety 4th the authority to transfer licenses for fireworks showrooms in Carrollton and Uhrichsville.
Initially, the fire marshal denied Safety 4th's request in 1997, but the company and fire marshal reached an agreement after Safety 4th filed a lawsuit, B.J. Alan said. It said the fire marshal agreed to "conditionally approve" the transfer of the licenses to any place in Ohio.
The conditions gave the company until June 2004 to designate locations for the showrooms and until June 2005 to build them.
What company wants: B.J. Alan says this agreement violates state law. It is seeking an order prohibiting Safety 4th from transferring its licenses, or at least transferring them to Mahoning County.
If that action isn't granted, the company wants the authority to transfer its licenses.
A spokeswoman for the fire marshal said she would have to check into the matter before commenting.
B.J. Alan said it doesn't know where Safety 4th intends to locate its showrooms but is concerned it might choose Mahoning County. If it did, Safety 4th would take market share away from B.J. Alan and hurt the company, it said.