Ellie Searles, of Schroon Lake, articulates what many of us see far too regularly in this letter To the Editor in the Sun Times. Thank you Ellie

“It saddens me to see trash strewn along our highways. A couple of weeks ago, I was driving up the Northway from Queensbury when I saw a couch and chair in the meridian. As I drove toward Schroon Lake, a tanker threw a coffee cup out the window. Then there were miles and miles of orange bags as the workers spend their days picking up trash in an effort to keep our area beautiful.

It’s a dangerous job, but do the litterbugs think of anyone other than themselves? These people may live like pigs at home and think it’s OK to litter our highways, but I wonder how they would feel if the cups, candy wrappers or even a couch and chair were thrown on their front lawn.

When we first moved to Schroon Lake, my husband and I spent seven years walking through the park in Schroon Lake picking up trash. It started with a grocery bag and each year the bags got bigger and bigger until I had to use my pull cart with a large trash bag in it to clean up the area. The problem seemed to get worse, not better.

We live in one of the most beautiful areas in the country but there are those who don’t appreciate it by littering. How much room does that coffee cup take on the floor of your car until you can find a trash can, folks? Is there a chance you can start to appreciate living on planet Earth by thinking before you roll that window down and toss your trash out? I would hope so!

And those of you who are doing this with your kids in the car, you are teaching them that it’s OK and then it becomes a never-ending cycle”.

- Ellie Searles, Schroon Lake