Feb 26, 2018 2 min read

For the past six years, I have been asking many people how to get “No Littering” signs put up along Route 481 in Washington County. I have received numerous promises, and here I am, six years later, with no signs. I even offered to put them up.

Those signs used to be everywhere while I was growing up, and now I have found out why there are so few left. Recall the television commercial from the early 1970s, with the Indian crying over the litter he saw on American soil? I presume that would be considered politically incorrect to use these days. Shame though, it seemed effective.

So, I set out to see why no such signs are up. Here are the answers I received:

–The township cannot help me because Route 481 is a state-maintained road, and it is not permitted to do anything on such roads.

–I spoke to several PennDOT officials, and their answers included, “The sign department may not answer my request.” One official suggested I buy my own signs.

–An official in the PennDOT Uniontown office said he couldn’t answer my question because he works in the traffic department. I did learn that if a road has signs on it that state it has been adopted by an organization, “No Littering” signs cannot be placed along them. I do not believe that most folks know that a segment of a road being adopted by, say, a church means that they are being asked not to litter. In fact, it seems they care less if they litter. What is collected in roadside cleanups is atrocious.

No one seems to know whose policy this is. When one renews a car license, you see on the PennDOT form that littering yields a $300 fine. I wonder how often this is enforced?

I contacted the office of state Sen. Camera Bartolotta to see if the “No Littering” sign policy could be changed. I am awaiting an answer.

Joyce Cherok

Daisytown