Jun 16, 2022 2 min read

Recently my wife and I participated in a road cleanup – a noble cause but a mute point in this state because for it to work whole-heartedly every highway in this state would have to be adopted.

I noted a disturbing trend: 80% of the road litter was either beer cans or liquor containers. The remainder was mainly fast-food litter. Fast-food makes for faster litter. This makes me think there is a bunch of drunken drivers eating from fast-food restaurants and tossing all the litter out their windows. You know who you are! After all they must not have empty alcohol containers in their cars if the police stop them. So what is a drunken driver to do? Throw it out the window where it magically disappears into the landscape. Guess what? It never does!

Where and why do these people develop this disgusting, thoughtless, environmentally harmful habit? Is it an inherited trait? Were they taught this in school? Or maybe they just evolved into pigs? I like to refer to them as “litter-pigs,” among other choice words. Is it ignorance, stupidity or just plain disregard for the environment or their fellow man? Is it a fear of trash cans? Maybe if trash cans were designed to resemble an open car window they would be more likely to use them. Probably just wishful thinking.

So if Virginia is for lovers, Pennsylvania is for litter-pigs! But on a brighter note, you may have noticed – or not noticed – as much litter this time of year. It’s because the state Department of Transportation has not mowed the berms on state roads.

Jerry Newland

Finleyville