Dear Action Line: As responsible rural citizens who can’t stand the sight of litter, we regularly pick up trash on our county road. What’s one to do, however, when the number one source of roadside litter is the garbage service trucks themselves?
They spew vast quantities of lightweight items on their weekly run, speeding down the road with loads uncovered. I assume they are 100% responsible once the trash enters their trucks, and are therefore violating littering laws. We have had much frustration and no luck contacting the company (Waste Management), and received no help from county departments. Some action from Action Line would be much appreciated! – Peeved in Hesperus
Dear Peeved: As Edward Abbey used to say: “Of course I litter the public highway. Every chance I get. After all, it’s not the beer cans that are ugly; it’s the highway that is ugly.”
So, as Abbey (we think) was saying, let’s quit building roads into untrammeled places. And if you’re going to build a road, a beer can only adds to the asphalt trash heap.
What does this have to do with Peeved’s situation? Well, not much, but it’s just what snapped into Action Line’s brain when hearing about it.
Pleasantly, the trash company in question responded promptly. Robby Ritter, the Waste Management district manager based in the Farmington area, said he likes to work with the community so that incidents like these don’t happen.
After being informed of the road involved, Ritter said that he would begin an investigation by talking to the route manager and the drivers on this route. The drivers may need a rule review or some coaching. Some waste trucks have cameras in the hopper, and that might help to see what exactly is happening.
It's also possible that their customers need some education. Lighter material might need to be bagged, for instance.
“We’ll make sure we get this addressed,” Ritter said.
Action Line also got an email from Jennifer Wargo, Waste Management’s communications director for the Four Corners.
“(Waste Management) is committed to protecting the environment and helping make the communities we serve safe, clean and green,” she said. “Our policy for collection trucks operated by WM is to close any top disposal doors when traveling distances, and all of our Colorado roll-off trucks are tarped to control any wind-blown debris. We will discuss these residents’ concerns with our drivers.”
And if you’re curious about the law, littering would be a civil infraction handled by the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office, said Larry Foukas, a former Sheriff’s Office captain who’s now the county’s code enforcement supervisor.
The complaint would be “littering of public or private property,” under Colorado Criminal Code 18-4-511. Part 1 says, “Any person who deposits, throws, or leaves any litter on any public or private property or in any waters, commits littering.”
And Part 6 says, “Whenever litter is thrown, deposited, dropped, or dumped from any motor vehicle … the operator of said motor vehicle is presumed to have caused or permitted the litter to be so thrown, deposited, dropped, or dumped therefrom.”
The offense is punishable by a fine between $20 and $500 upon first conviction.
Now, when you see someone littering, it may be hard to get a Sheriff’s deputy on the scene immediately. But that shouldn’t stop you. As we all learned from Gomer Pyle a while back, it’s possible to make a “citizen’s arrest” if a crime is committed in your presence. (Google the Gomer video – it’s a hoot.)
Action Line believes you just have to shout “citizen’s arrest!” very loudly, and take the offender into custody. Seriously, a “citizen’s arrest” is a thing; just look at 16-3-201 in the Colorado Revised Statutes.
Dear Action Line: Looks like Taos Ski Valley is now part of Colorado, at least according to Monday’s Denver Post (Nov. 20). Did Taos physically move out of the Land of Enchantment, or did the state of Colorado mysteriously annex the storied resort? Or is this a case of the National Weather Service having its head in the clouds? – Oliver D. Map
Dear Oliver: How about that? According to the online Post, not only Taos, but Hite Marina and Toadlena are also now in Colorado.
Action Line was unaware of this conquest, but is happy to know that cartographers will be busy for a while redrawing boundaries.
Toadlena is (was?) in New Mexico on the Navajo Reservation, not far from the Arizona border. Hite Marina is in Utah on the northern tip of Lake Powell. Kind of. Hite Marina actually closed about 20 years ago when the reservoir’s water level dropped too far below the marina level to be of any use.
Let’s preface the rest of this response by emphasizing that although it’s not unprecedented, newspapers hardly ever make mistakes.
The issue appears to be with the Post. Action Line found a National Weather Service website with snow total information that displayed long-accepted state boundaries. In other words, Taos, Toadlena and Hite Marina have not become part of Colorful Colorado. Sorry.
Here's the link: https://tinyurl.com/5n6uxhxc.
Action Line sees how a web user could define the map size on the screen and accidentally include places outside the state boundary; everything defined is listed in a chart to the side. Please have sympathy for newspaper editors, politicians, state government workers and basically just about anyone living on the Front Range who is clueless about the geography of the Four Corners.
As Nebraska newspaper man J.E. Lawrence said so famously back in 1949, “It is what it is.”
After contacting the Post to illustrate the situation and get a response, Action Line did notice that later in the day, the Post had taken Taos, Toadlena and Hite Marina out of its snow totals. An acknowledgement and thank you from the Post seemed to be in order, but a couple of days later, still no response. Action Line finds this slightly annoying. Big city kids can be such jerks.
Email questions and suggestions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. Really, J.E. Lawrence, a writer with the Nebraska State Journal in Lincoln, is said to have used the expression first in 1949.
