What about adults? Do we litter?

You bet! Concert attendees also add to the trash problem. Take a ride

on the path behind the amphitheater after a weekend of shows. Beer cans

and paper plates are strewn about the path from Kelly Drive to Kroger.

One of my favorite adult litterbugs

are the ones who attempt to use a trash can from a moving golf cart. They

usually make a miscalculation and miss their target. Of course then they

keep going saying to themselves, "That's OK, the city workers pick

will it up, that is what they are paid for." Oh, come on, we've all

done that one.

And finally another one of

my favorites, the drivers and passengers who flick their cigarette butts

out of their cars. These butts usually end up at our major intersections

and get tossed out while the smokers are waiting in traffic.

And now to another major culprit:

the dreaded "out of towners." Since I live on Lake Peachtree,

I was obviously interested in keeping the lake clean. Hard to do when

fisherman and their families come from neighboring counties and pollute

the banks with everything from Coke cans to panty hose. Not sure what

the later was doing there. Not sure I want to know either.

These spots, mostly hidden

from city officials, are disgusting. Not only are these individuals breaking

the law by even fishing on Lake Peachtree, but they are also leaving their

garbage behind when they leave. Take a ride under the Ga. Highway 54 bridge

at Lake Peachtree sometime.

I checked the Peachtree City

Police Department's web site. Although there are numerous statistics for

traffic offenses and more serious crimes, there are none mentioned for

littering. Perhaps our outstanding local department could do more to help

in this area. They have a mountain bike patrol as well as a golf cart

patrol which can access all of the areas which I do. Are they checking

to see if the people fishing are from our town and if they have a valid

fishing license?

I realize that the department's

manpower is stretched to the limit with the dramatic increase in traffic

and calls for service over the past decade, but maybe a little more emphasis

could be placed on catching these offenders. After all, it takes the same

amount of time to write a speeding citation as it does one for littering.

So who is to blame? Teens,

adults, residents, nonresidents? The answer is simpler than the solution,

unfortunately. The answer is everyone. That's right, you and me, and your

neighbor.

We can all do more to help

this problem. It is actually one of the few things that we can control,

when you think about it. We can all take a little more time to pick up

that piece of trash, or educate our children about responsibility and

civic duty, or call the police when a car with an out-of-county tag shows

up and its occupants start to fish from our lakes. We can all keep from

throwing out that cigarette butt or tossing that can from our golf cart.

In a world with terrorism,

diseases, poverty, and war, I guess many will read this and tell me to

get a life. In some respects they would be right. But the problem of polluting

goes much deeper than just some trash on the side of the path. It is about

respect and morals. It is about right from wrong. It is about honesty

and integrity. It is about all of the things that make a person good.

While fighting the war on pollution

doesn't sound as glamorous as fighting the war on terrorism, it is at

least something that all of us can do to make a positive contribution

to society.

Rod Burnette

Peachtree City, Ga.