EDITOR:

I can think of no better day to write this letter than on Earth Day, when people often volunteer their time to pick up trash along highways.

However, it’s not just highways where trash dumping is a problem. Many of our rural roads in Delta County are littered with garbage, from empty liquor bottles to TV sets, even mattresses and recliners.

As residents of the Old State Road (officially named 13.75 Road, which runs parallel to U.S. 2 & 41 West of Escanaba), we have seen our road become a trash-dumping site. Now that spring is here and we are outside taking walks and bike rides again, we have been picking up the trash along the road and ditches, including empty food containers, cups, empty cans, beer cases (yes, actual cases of beer cans) full and empty water bottles, but most of all – and most alarming – empty liquor bottles. (We counted 17 Arrow brand Peppermint Schnapps bottles in just the one mile that we frequently walk on the Old State Road!)

We filled two 30-gallon size trash bags in just two days – and that was just along the 1-mile stretch near the westernmost-end of the road.

We will keep picking up the trash as long as it is there, but we are begging whoever is illegally dumping their trash and furniture along this road–especially the empty liquor bottles–to stop–both dumping them while you are driving, but more importantly, drinking them while you are driving.

Eventually, you will be caught dumping garbage, and you will be caught drinking while driving.

We also want to take this opportunity to thank Delta County Sheriff Deputy Kositzky for helping us to investigate the illegal dumping of bags full of garbage near the end of our driveway last summer.

Deputy Kositzky went out of his way to help – even personally bagging most of the garbage on his own. We’d also like to thank our neighbors, the Wallin family, for including the bagged garbage in their garbage pick-up.

The Old State Road is already getting dangerous to bike and walk along, due to the excessive speeds some people drive, but it is becoming more unsafe because of the obvious drinking and driving happening, which is apparent by the empty liquor bottles and beer cans along the ditches.

We think we speak for most of the residents of our quiet neighborhood, many of whom are small children who bike and walk with their parents, that we appreciate the Delta County Sheriff Department for patrolling our road for excessive speeders. We ask that you continue watching for garbage dumpers and stop them. We will keep helping to clean up our road.

We only ask whoever is dumping garbage to remember what a scenic country road this is, and help us — the residents–to keep it that way.

Vicki and Todd C. LaFave

Escanaba