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Litter and dog droppings are a big disappointment to my kids

Every few weeks, my family does a tour of our neighbourhood to clean up the garbage that people toss out their car windows or cast aside while walking to their destination.

Every few weeks, my family does a tour of our neighbourhood to clean up the garbage that people toss out their car windows or cast aside while walking to their destination.

Yesterday was one such cleaning day.

For an hour, we collected a black bag full of other people’s garbage. We found 22 empty cigarette packs in front of one residence alone.

Sadly, while out walking our dogs today, we discovered that people had already begun to litter again. Not even 24 hours had gone by. Coffee cups, cigarette packs, etc., and — even worse — we found beer cans, from which I can only conclude that people may be drinking and driving while contributing to the defacement of the place we all call home.

My children do not understand why people treat their neighbourhood like a dump. And my explanation falls short because, quite frankly, I don’t understand either.

And I haven’t even begun to describe the dog feces on the road. Every few minutes,I have to tell my children to watch where they step. And every couple of weeks, I’m scrubbing someone’s shoes because we didn’t see the filth in time.

So, I’d like to request an explanation from someone who chooses to litter or leaves their dog’s mess on the street.

Just write in to this paper and tell my kids why this behaviour is acceptable. Maybe make my job as a parent a little easier for one day, because finding the garbage back on the road just one day after they cleaned is very disheartening to my kids.

While we wait for your letter, we will continue to try to keep the world a little cleaner. It would be nice if you would try as well.

Last time I checked, you live here too.

Dawn Graham

Castlegar