It's NOT O.K.!
By B_Dennis_Taylor
It's Not O.K. to throw litter, including cigarette butts, out of your vehicle!
I'm on a campaign (so what else is new?)! As a resident and business operator in Fauquier County I continue to be appalled at the complete ignorance and lack of care some people have for our environment and our beautiful County.
Recently, while sitting in traffic, I saw the woman in the car next to me carelessly toss her lit cigarette butt out of her window. I rolled down my passenger window and said "Would you please do me a favor?" and she said "Sure." "Please don't throw your cigarette butts out of the window of your car!" I continued. She got more than a little angry and screamed "WHY NOT!!!?" Since we were stuck in traffic, and she was a rather captive audience, I provided some education by telling her it was contributing to our growing litter problem, that it was a fire hazard, and finally that it was illegal and punishable by a hefty fine and/or up to one year in jail. She had no idea - not a CLUE! How can anyone believe that it’s O.K. to toss a burning incendiary device from a moving vehicle where it could ignite a pool of fuel, start a grass fire, cause an accident or contribute to the pile of butts along the roadway’s edge?
I have actually seen pools of gasoline ignite; small grass fires start; and have had a lit butt land on the hood of my car where it ended up near my windshield wipers and the air conditioning intake for the comfortable, but now smoke filled, interior. Nice, eh?
I am not anti-smoking – in fact I enjoy an occasional cigar. But I would never, ever, think of tossing a lit butt or any other trash out of the window of my car. I’m just anti-trash. We adopt a 2 mile section of road at the intersection of Rt. 603 and Rt. 605 in Fauquier County. Every time we pick up it just amazes me what we find. Just from the litter volume I can tell you that Budweiser sales are way up, McDonald’s is alive and well, Slim-Jims are a hot commodity, and Pepsi seems to be winning their war with Coca-Cola.
Recently I have talked with the Town of Warrenton Police Department, the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Department and the Virginia State Police. We have formed a pact of sorts – they have all promised to step up enforcement efforts if we, as citizens, will launch a public awareness campaign. So be it! I can’t do this alone - I need your help! I’m putting together a plan that when put into action will include posting Town/County approved roadside signs that read “It’s Not O.K. to Litter!”, newspaper and local publication articles, and citizen enforcement (e.g. – citizen arrests) whereby we can report violator’s tag numbers to local jurisdiction law enforcement officials. Litterers beware – We Are Watching You!
Please contact me if you have ideas in support of this objective and/or if you are in a position to volunteer to help with this anti-litter initiative. You can be part of the solution and I thank you in advance for your advice, input and assistance!
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