Letter: Smokers can’t be blamed for all litter

Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007 | 6:52 a.m.

I must respond to Robert Kaye's Nov. 6 letter about smokers littering our streets.

Obviously, Mr. Kaye has not bought a new car lately. The majority of cars no longer come equipped with ashtrays and most businesses in the valley do not provide ashtrays outside for smokers to put their cigarette butts in . Maybe Mr. Kaye should complain to the car manufacturers or businesses for not providing ashtrays.

Smokers are not the only ones who litter, yet we are always blamed for all the problems in the city.

My husband and I take a 1 1/2 -mile walk every day on Spring Valley Parkway. My husband picks up trash every day along our walk. He picks up at least three bags of trash along the way.

There are plastic water bottles, beer cans, beer bottles, cups, wrappers, bags and leftover food from fast-food restaurants thrown in the street and along the walkway. One Saturday morning he picked up countless beer bottles, whiskey bottles and food wrappers. Obviously, some people had a party the night before and decided the street was their garbage can.

There are about 10 trash bins along the way for dog litter. We have seen several paper cups set on top of the bins. How hard would it be to pick up the lid and throw the cup in the container?

I agree , people are slobs and don't care about keeping our city clean, but smokers are not the only ones to blame. (While I am at it, I forgot to mention all the trash in front of supermarkets and trash left in the shopping carts. And people who have garage sales should remove their signs and boxes with rocks in them after the sale .)

Mr. Kaye, take a walk along Spring Valley Parkway someday (before my husband picks up all the trash). I guarantee you will see more trash than cigarette butts.

Dolores Kelley, Las Vegas