Bud cans, dirty diapers unwelcome along MC roads

When we first landed in Virginia, I would drive over to Spotsylvania to visit another former Jersey girl. Adjacent to the Wilderness Battlefield is a road awash in roadside trash. It was really appalling to see such a sacred area so covered in litter.

I’m not suggesting that other states don’t have litter problems, but in many parts of the country, the litter problem has been lessened with the addition of more receptacles and higher fines for littering.

So now its four years later and I’m in Madison County which has some of the state’s most gorgeous (NJ terminology) roads and what do I encounter -- trash! And it seems to me that the situation has gotten much worse recently. I do not want to venture into those “shark-infested” waters of the “hang tag.” I’ll leave those matters to the “Letters to the Editor” section to determine whether the dreaded tag has added to the county’s problem. No, I’ll take the approach of the “20 somethings” and their favorite expression – seriously, who does that!

There are likely a number of citizens in the county who make an organized effort to keep Madison beautiful by cleaning up trash. Some local clean-ups are organized events held by citizens who “adopt a road.”

Local clean up day could be a source of amusement if the situation wasn’t quite so tragic (NJ emphasis on the dramatic!). For example – seriously -- if you are taking the trouble to unload an unwanted tire, why would you drive to the river to do so? Tires are hiding places for disease carrying mosquitoes and we already have enough imports from Asia!

Seriously, who throws an old rusty space heater on the side of the road? Did the person figure that a bear could repair the thing and keep his den warm this winter? And my personal favorite – seriously -- you can tell a lot about a population by the brand of empty beer cans you find. Well, we have a diverse group of drinkers, but Bud leads the pack.

Just pitiful!

During our last clean-up day, we encountered a bag of dirty disposable diapers! All I can say is “eeewwwww” (does not meet spell check requirements and favored by teens in text messages!).

With our VA DOT orange bags and matching vests, we resemble a gang of convicts (who by the way, are the ones who clean the roads in NJ!) searching behind trees and in the mud for tell tale signs of trash. Once in a while, we encounter a sink hole and a cry for help will be heard.

When we meet at the end point, we usually boast about our haul. “Hey -- I found a car radiator,” or, “can you believe someone threw their carpeting in the river?” It sometimes gets a little competitive determining who picked up the most trash. It’s a badge of honor if your bag gets too heavy to carry.

I think it is time that all the citizens of Madison find a way to deter litterers. Some believe the litter and roadside trash is the work of tourists; perhaps, but why would anyone at all toss a bag of kitchen trash out the window? If it were the work of a tourist, they need to be told -- times may be tough but take your garbage with you!

Florida author, Carl Hiaasen, wrote a novel called, “Sick Puppy.” I wouldn’t want to spoil anyone’s read, but it deals, in part, with a greedy man who tosses trash from his car, fouling the Florida byways. The protagonist follows him and makes his life a living hell. I am considering a “follow the litterer” campaign. It may be ill-advised, but -- seriously -- last time I looked, deer were not supposed to be adorned with plastic six pack rings. So go ahead, litterer … make my day.

(Guest columnist Valerie Goossens has lived most of her life in the metropolitan New York City-New Jersey area. She and her husband, Alfred Goossens, their cat, Sasha, dog, Bonnie Belle, and two horses, Rocket and JJ, now reside at High Meadow in Syria near Rag Mountain Estates. Contact her via e-mail at three.geese@vabb.com.)