County
ACHD Has Butts In Their Sand
December 30, 2008 
Seems like business is “picking up” for the folks at the Ada County Highway District. With a breather between snow storms, crews are out gathering all that sand they dumped at intersections and on hills for traction.
Judging from the close up photo they sent along with the press release there are a ton of inconsiderate drivers who toss their butts out the window. We have “smoke-free” restaurants and buildings, looks like “butt-free zones” will be next.
The butts, combined with other trash and contaminants make it impractical to recycle the sand for the next snow storm. The collected sand is used for cover on top of garbage at the landfill–which makes good use of a dirty substance.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Dec 30, 2008, 7:20 pm
I’m always saddened by the number of seemingly otherwise good people who think nothing of throwing their cigarette butts and / or lit smokes out windows, alongside entrance ways, etc.
Dec 30, 2008, 8:35 pm
They can’t recycle the sand anyways. They haven’t finished picking up the leaves in the North End…..(Sarcasm from a “privileged” North Ender)
Dec 30, 2008, 8:40 pm
Most of us could re-write the headline for this story in several ways.
The most polite is: “ACHD has their heads in the sand” or one could say their heads are elsewhere………..
Before it started snowing we had “contaminated leaves”. Now it is contaminated sand, but most of the stories on the Guardian website are about contaminated political leadership, contaminated, that is, with bad thinking, bad judgement, and bad decision making.
Off topic – On the broadcast of today’s Humanitarian Bowl, there was one ad I found offensive. It was a Chamber of Commerce-like “come live in Boise” ad. Unbelieavable.
EDITOR NOTE–All the reports we had from friends said there were no more than 12,000 people in the stadium. Hardly ever had a wide shot of the stands on ESPN, but it was a meager turnout at best.
Me thinks the former MPC bowl may easily go the way of the MPC computers and Riverfest.
Dec 30, 2008, 10:55 pm
I’ve had this thought for a very long time that no one has been able to shoot down. Here goes…
If you see someone do something illegal, you report their license plate and description to the police. If the police receive three different reports about the same type of behavior, they recieve a ticket for the offense.
It would have to be a little more complex, but I think this idea might make people more considerate. The cronic violators just keep an eye peeled for the cops and do pretty much as they please when none are around.
EDITOR NOTE–Actually Tom, all it takes is a single complaint. You have to identify the person–not just a license plate–and step forth and sign a complaint. With the help and involvement of the coppers, any citizen can stand up for what’s right with little risk of personal harm.
Dec 30, 2008, 11:10 pm
The reality is, we are an ‘I don’t want to get involved’ type of country. If people could have a little firewall up, and it was easy, I think a lot more folks would tattle.
Every one of my neighbors is a violator of some sort, as well as some of my family members. The thing is, most folks won’t risk starting a war over anything less than a huge personal insult, or grievous trespass.
Dec 30, 2008, 11:47 pm
The Magic Words Are: “Citizen’s Arrest.” The power that Security Officers operate under.
And they are best uttered to the Dispatcher upon requesting an officer, should the responding officer – as they are sometimes wont to do – not be in the mood and will [A] Interrogate YOU as to whether you are “…going to actually take the days off from work to follow through with this…”, attempting to discourage you, or [B] Plead there is nothing he/she can do (technically true); but will not mention your power Citizen’s Arrest.
These phenomenon are especially present near the end of an Officer’s shift.
There’s some CYA involved, and I would direct the reader’s attention to:
http://www3.state.id.us/cgi-bin/newidst?sctid=190060004.K
and
http://www3.state.id.us/cgi-bin/newidst?sctid=180070001.K
Happy New Year!
Dec 31, 2008, 7:43 am
I was at the game. I’d say more like 20,000 was there. Sure seemed quiet after a BSU home game. But we had fun and I hope the visiting teams did as well. We tried to root for both teams to make our guest feel good.
Dec 31, 2008, 9:59 am
We live across the street from a city park. (Lucky!) The amount of litter is incredible. Every day, at least during the usage season, a park employee (being paid with taxpayer dollars) spends maybe a half-hour dutifully picking up the previous day’s litter.
People open their car door and set their drained super-size cups out on the pavement. They also regularly open the door and dump the contents of their ashtray onto the pavement. (I’ve been tempted, when I see it, to throw it back into their car and say, “Here… you dropped something.” Would that be illegal?)
Yeah, the taxpayer-supplied trash can is maybe 25 feet away, and you’d have to actually get out of your car and walk over to it, so I understand why many citizens don’t make that difficult choice. (/sarcasm)
Dec 31, 2008, 5:52 pm
Civic pride is something that is very hard to describe but when you see someone bend over and pick up a piece of trash and put it in a can it speaks volumes about that person and their civic pride.
There will always be low-life people around to foul the nest we all live in. Perhaps a “deposit” on cigarette butts might be the answer. However, we can’t even get a deposit law on cans and bottles out of the legislature.
The thing that really chaps my behind is people who throw used baby diaper everywhere but a trash can. DISGUSTING!!!! Cigarette butts don’t hold a candle to this act. These people are PIGS.
Jan 1, 2009, 8:50 pm
Yep, they’re slobs.
Still, I’m glad I live where the things along the road are cigarette butts, cans, bottles, etc., instead of IEDs, landmines, nut cases with automatic weapons wearing vests full of explosives, and suchlike.
I can’t help but wonder how people in those countries would react if they read our sites and found out that we were worried about butts and bottles.
Happy New Year!
Jan 2, 2009, 10:58 am
Gordon: I suppose you could worry about the fact that the majority of all of those military weapons being used to kill all over the world have a MADE IN AMERICA label on them… (America is the number one supplier of military weapons in the world)
When we used to live in small groups, people policed each others behavior in a way that made the community a MUCH better place to live. The car has been the demon that destroyed our sense of community. Cars allow us to venture forth into places where you are anonymous and have little/no social pressure to do the right thing, or be a good person. That is the rationale behind my suggestion for citizen based law enforcement. A HUGE amount of the problems we face are caused by the anonymity enabled by the sick and destructive car culture.
Jan 2, 2009, 8:10 pm
Tom:
You have some good points there.
As for, “When we used to live in small groups, people policed each others behavior in a way that made the community a MUCH better place to live.” When I lived in small towns (and I now live near a fairly small city), it wasn’t so much that we policed each other as that we cared about each other. We didn’t want Joe or Nancy or ol’ Widder Smith to slip on the sidewalks or be offended by the garbage on the street or have to pick up the blowing candy wrappers from their yards.
Now many people have never even met their next-door neighbors, let alone the folks down the block, so they care no more about them than they do about the folks being murdered in Africa or Iraq or Tijuana — they’re just faceless numbers in the population charts.
And, yep, a lot of the difference is cars. Go from your kitchen into the attached garage, push the magic button and drive away, never even really see anyone, let alone meet them.
As for the Made in America weapons — yep, many of them are. Some still are being made in Russia and China, apparently, so I guess we and the Communists are continuing our battle by providing arms to people who will use them, or something of that sort.
Any suggestions?
Jan 7, 2009, 1:10 pm
I have lots of suggestions, thanks for asking.
The thing is, we are a society that reacts to problems, instead of thinking ahead and proactively changing our ‘way of life’ to promote the greater good over the long run.
We impliment a great new idea, that causes 5 problems, so we come up with fixes for all 5 problems, which, unfortuneatly, causes 25 more problems…
Repeat cycle until society collapses.