Roadside clean up activities were heavily curtailed this spring by Mother Nature which means area highways maybe looking a little untidy come this summer.
For years the local 4-H groups, school groups and other volunteers have worked hard to clean up area ditches and roadways. This year the abundance of moisture and late snow made it difficult for these volunteers to conduct this year’s clean-up projects and their efforts will certainly be noticeably missed.
While they should be praised for their efforts it would be far better if their services were actually made unnecessary by a willingness on the part of local motors and visitors to our region to keep their trash in their own vehicles.
Anyone who regularly travels Highway 25 between Lethbridge and Picture Butte or Highway 23 to Nobleford or Highway 3 to Coaldale or any other of our local roadways knows just how popular fast food restaurants are as evident by the number of take out bags and assorted litter that ends up in our ditches.
Littering, while not a major criminal activity, is still an issue that needs to be addressed in our communities. Children need to learn at a young age, in hopes they will take the lesson into their adult years, that littering is just not acceptable. Parents who think their children are not watching their every move need only mention littering to a group of local elementary students to hear tales of their parents littering habits.
If you think your littering is not a big deal, ask your children. They seem to understand more than some of their parents that littering is not only an offense that carries a monetary fine, it is also disrespectful and shows a lack of maturity.
Anyone who drives a truck and thinks that garbage they toss in the bed of their truck is going to stay there has been spending too much time under their truck inhaling exhaust. Those who use their truck beds as large garbage receptacles are counting on the fact everything will have blown away by the time they reach home. Not only is this practise lazy it’s also a sure sign of an underlying lack of respect for oneself and others.
By working together everyone can help reduce the amount of littering that shows up every year along our local roadways and streets. Why not show your community pride and help clean up around town. It would certainly go a long way to making our municipalities more inviting if everyone did what they could to clean up before our communities host their annual summer celebrations.