Letter to the editor: More needs to be done about litter in Sumter
I want to thank F. D. Schmidt and K. D. Singleton for writing letters to the editor about litter. I also want to thank The Sumter Item for its articles on litter and for recognizing groups, such as the Boy Scouts, for taking on the project of removing litter from our roadways.
I have just tried to stop looking on the side of our roads. It is too depressing, and I don't believe anyone is going to try to solve that problem.
F. D. Schmidt is correct about thinking that not "everyone hates litter ... then there would be no litter." She witnessed someone throwing a bag of trash out of their car and reported the car's license plate number. I also believe that after reporting the license number of a car, she was told "that there could be no charge because it may not have been the car's owner tossing the trash." We have become a nation of excuses. I call those people amateur lawyers. How about charging the car's owner and let the car's owner figure out "who done it"?
K. D. Singleton really nailed it, too. Mattresses aren't the only things thrown out on our roads. I have seen washing machines, dryers, stoves and tires, just to mention a few. If citizens report litter and/or someone who is doing the littering, but no one can be charged, then why not litter to your heart's content?
We need rules that make someone responsible. When ID information is found in a bag of trash, then make that person responsible. If they didn't throw it out, then let them figure out "who done it?" Maybe what we really need is a litter judge. A judge who cares about the litter and wants to do something about it; a no-excuse judge.
We also need a rule about someone who may be trying the "bearing false witness" trick. Of course we know that a spouse, or neighbor or "X" would never do that, but there's always a chance it could happen. Our world is not perfect, I think everyone would agree on that.
So, let's do create a "Sumter City-County Litter Advisory Board" with additional input from Sumter City-County citizens. Could we make it sometime soon?
JACKIE HUGHES
Sumter