DON'T DUMP ON ME ~ ~ ~

MAINE has a law which is supposed to stop people from dumping along the roadside. There are signs as you drive along warning that we fine people for doing it. But does anyone ever get caught?

Last week I was driving from home on USRoute 1 heading into Portland. As I entered the 295 ramp a dark blue Chevy van with cargo doors sped past me. I tried to get the license number and drove a little faster than legal in the attempt.
The license was a bit battered but I think it was either 5057 or 6057, and it had some letters. Anyway, as they drove along five or six miles to the first exit, they ejected a barrage of paper (looked like napkins and wrappers) from the passenger side. The papers fluttered and flew around in their wake,and ended up in the recently mowed grass.

As I drove along into the Falmouth-to-Yarmouth area, a six-pack carton with what I presume was empties laid at the edge of the road. It's unlikely that a cartman would be out there. It would be illegal, and dangerous to be walking in that highway. Further on there were plastic bags and all manner of trash; bottles, cans and clothing. Someone's shoe - a child's car seat.

Yesterday I saw a truck with some young men stopped beside the road. There was an assortment of furniture in the truck, and a sofa on the side of the road. I don't know if they lost the sofa off and were trying to get it back on the truck, or if they were just out picking up peoples junk. I hope they weren't thinking of putting that furniture in a dorm room somewhere. It looked pretty bad. AND-

this week's Leader tells of the bed bug infestations in Maine and elsewhere. Taking in furniture from the roadside could prove to be a disaster. According to the article bedbugs do not have economic standards. They love the poor and dirty and the rich and sanitary. Enough about that ugly topic! Back to DON"T DUMP ON ME -

WHAT'S WRONG WITH PEOPLE????? Everyone rants about recycling and the environment. I think I know what the problem is - no one ever gets caught. I have never seen a piece in the paper about someone getting prosecuted and fined or incarcerated for littering. IF you've ever been caught littering and had to pay up, please let me know. It would restore my faith in ---something, I just don't know what. Anyway, if you are in Maine and you have trash to dump,
DON'T DUMP ON MAINE! Take it home, please.

NOW on the plus side of all this, I saw a large truck being driven by a very able looking man, going slowly along the edge of the highway coming back from Yarmouth to Scarborough. A couple of orange-vested and capped men were in the grass beside the highway with sticks with picks on the end, carrying large black plastic bags, picking up the litter. Your tax dollars at work. A very uneconomical truck, and three employees paid by the state cleaning up someone's misdemeanor. But then, isn't it always the way? Someone makes a mess and someone else either cleans it up or pays to have it cleaned up.

Been to Florida? There are stretches of highways there adopted by civic-minded companies whose employees regularly go out and pick up trash. OF course, that probably puts some unionized state worker out of a job. Bummers!

That's it. DON'T DUMP ON ME (Maine, that is.)