When I worked for the U.S. Forest Service, I had to clean up and haul to the dump, several times a week, transient-camp trash piles similar to the one pictured on the front-page (Herald, June 2.) I would wear gloves and a mask to protect myself from the toxic waste – a stench of mice droppings, human feces, putrefied food, soiled clothing and camping gear, and an abundance of beer cans and broken glass from liquor bottles. Just recently, I read that the Forest Service is now closing Lower Hermosa to camping because of these same piles of waste.
So my questions are: Why is camping allowed in a “no-camping” area, and why are these transients allowed to create such a mess that men get mauled and a bear gets killed? Bear Smart and the residents of Durango have worked hard to develop a community that lives responsibly with the bears so this sort of altercation doesn’t occur.
In my opinion, these trash piles point to the fact that this transient population is neither grateful nor respectful for the beautiful community they are staying in for free. People work hard to be able to live in this town, often taking on several jobs, while this transient population gets free food from Manna and free camping on public lands, which they desecrate.
In my opinion, the term “homeless” refers to the unfortunate folks who lost their homes in disasters such as Katrina or have fallen on hard times due to a financial crisis. They want to be contributing members of society, they just need help.
Being a “transient” on the other hand, I believe, is a lifestyle choice. It is their desire to be responsible for nothing, to live unencumbered, all the while, expecting to sustain their lifestyle on the charity of society.
These transients are a good match for cleaning up the trash piles they have created. Let’s encourage these folks to be the best they can be and stop enabling them to be the worst they can be.
Tracey McInerney
Durango
