The first thing I saw recently when I arrived at Lincoln Park in Port Angeles to walk my dogs was a mess of fast-food litter in the parking lot.
I cleaned up after my dogs as we headed across the park to the trash bins by the ponds.
There, my elderly hound got tangled up in a mess of fishing wire someone had attached to a large stick and left on the ground.
My hound panicked until I was able to untangle him.
I’m glad any fishing hooks attached to the wire didn’t rip my dog’s flesh before I could get him untangled.
Next, we walked around the pond where we were greeted by the little gifts left to the rest of us by others — beer cans, soda cans, abandoned tubs of fishing bait, plastic sandwich bags, candy wrappers — all along the shores of the ponds.
You get the picture.
What a beautiful sight.
I’d like to believe that perhaps this crew of litterbugs was somehow beset by a crisis that made them forget to clean up after themselves.
But we all know that’s not the case.
That’s just who these people are.
They think it’s OK to leave their trash in the park for someone else to clean up — if they even think about it at all.
I’d like to know: How did you get this way?
Did your elementary school not teach you about litter?
Please explain.
Carol Turner,
Port Angeles