Area resident Vaughn Johnson discusses the litter problem in Clark County
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and do not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com
On a recent drive North on Interstate 205 from Highway 14 continuing North onto Interstate 5, my wife and I were aghast at the amount of garbage and litter observed while making this northbound trip. We discussed this issue at length as the garbage just continued mile after mile through Clark County. We both agreed this to be a disgusting example of what our county looks like along these corridors. It is a complete embarrassment quite frankly!
Imagine picking up friends or family from PDX, and have them see the mess that one can not help but notice here. Washington, the Evergreen State might as well have signs saying “Welcome to Washington, the trash littered filthy state.” Do we no longer have programs that once existed to have work crews from the county jail doing public service picking up litter? What about signage warning of fines for litter that was once seen along the highways? Does the State Patrol still have the authority to issue citations for unsecured loads and littering? Is there still an adopt a highway program that lets volunteers take care of the problem that the county is obviously not doing?
We were shocked, disgusted and quite embarrassed to see our county in such a garbage infested state. We would like to see some investigative reporting on this issue, we would like some answers from our county commissioners on what is or is not being done about this problem. We would like to see information on how volunteers could donate time to help with this issue. We would like mostly however, to be able to drive through Clark County to see the beauty of what we have here and not the amount of trash strewn mile after mile throughout our county!
Remember Iron Eyes Cody, the Indian who shed a tear over litter? He would be bawling his head off driving through our county.
Vaughn Johnson
Clark County
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I agree with Vaughn. There is litter everywhere and is embarrassing. I just came back from Phoenix and there was almost no litter.
Yes I agree, also the homeless is looking like Portland oregon,
We have to take back our communities, and the best way to do this is to get out of our houses and into the public areas. Get to know you neighbors and work together to make it a neighborhood. I will happily volunteer to join in clean up of trash and moving homeless out of public spaces into shelter areas. If the silent majority steps out and speaks up, we have the power to make this the great area we all remember. LETS GOOOOO!
We traveled to San Diego recently. We were pleasantly surprised to find very little litter on the roadsides, no tents with accompanying trash or bums begging at intersections. After driving 205 from PDX, our eyes were opened on how ugly the drive is. It’s been here so long that we’ve become immune to seeing it. No amount of citizen involvement will help until our vagrancy, loitering and littering laws are enforced. Law enforcement can’t help until the city council puts a priority on enforcing quality of life laws. It doesn’t have to be this way.