On a beautiful autumn day last weekend, my kids and I decided to take the backroads to one of their friends houses. While we were enjoying the fall colors, hunters walking the grassy plains, and combines silhouetted by an orange sunset, we came upon another, somewhat less appealing sight.

An old television lay along the gravel road. I mean a really old television. The kind with 4 legs, a wooden frame, and dials. I could almost see Clayton Moore as the Lone Ranger riding upside-down across the screen. My kids, who have only seen flat-screen style televisions in their young life, asked me, "what is that thing?" I told them. Then they asked, "well, what's it doing out here?"

Good question.

Unfortunately, some people use these beautiful country roads as their own personal landfill. Just because the road isn't paved, or there is not a house nearby, does not give one the right to dispose of unwanted items along a county road.

A half mile later, we came upon a bathtub, and a window screen.

Dan Collins

Apparently, someone thought they no longer needed to bathe.

I kept wondering, what must out-of-state hunters think when they see garbage next to the field on opening pheasant hunting weekend? That perhaps we're bumpkins who could care less about our landscape? We're too lazy and cheap to buy a landfill pass? The city actually mails a free landfill pass to residents every spring!

Amazingly, another quarter mile up the road we saw a broken chest of dresser drawers. We were just thankful that the former owner had the common sense to remove their socks and underwear before throwing it in the ditch.

Dan Collins

We spotted trash bags another hundred yards up the road.

Dan Collins

There are people who live on and commute these roads everyday. How would you feel if this was your view everyday on the way to work or school?

If you have unwanted items, bring them to a landfill. Burn them. Sell them. Donate them. Please do not throw them out along the road.

If kids can understand why we try to keep God's creation beautiful, why can't some adults?