Appalled By Litter

To the editor,

I just returned from walking my dog through the city of Anna about 2 1/2 miles. I am appalled at all the garbage and litter in and around our community.

I watched a special on television this past week about the poor people in the Appalachian mountain area and the conditions there. Some of the areas reminded me of our area here in Southern Illinois.

As you pass homes, you see garbage cans left from the previous pick up day and in the yards and on the streets you see cans, glass bottles, McDonald sacks, cups, wrappers, empty beer cartons, boxes, cigarette packs, etc.

If everyone would just pick up in front of their homes and businesses there would be a dramatic improvement.

The alleys in this town are atrocious. It appears as if the trash and garbage is just dumped in the alley instead of put out for garbage pick-up on assigned day. Many times I stop and pick up items and put in a can if one is near by and frequently bring home empty cans to be recycled.

I also frequently walk Kratzinger Road which is also a disgrace to our community. I have picked up as many as 30 to 50 aluminum cans on that road, mostly beer, not to mention the bottles, wrappers, diapers, etc. This is true of Spanish Bluff Road.

This could be a beautiful area with the bluffs, stream, and forest, but it looks like a city dump area at times. There needs to be strict enforcement of the litter law. I have traveled all over the United States and Illinois seems to be one of the worse states for littering. Let's all get to work and clean up our community.

<strong><em>Signed, Laura Mueller, Anna</em></strong>