To the Editor:
I have been travelling the South Jonas Road for nearly 20 years. In the last 10 years I travel it at least 25 times a year.
I sense there is a direct correlation between the implementation of the $5 landfill fee and the increase in the amount of garbage on and in the ditches on this road.
I have to believe that some intuitive person who made that decision will make another one to increase this landfill fee; it is a matter of time.
I was down this road this past Saturday and Sunday and the garbage on both sides of the road at the old INCO rail bed increased as I returned on Sunday evening. The ditches have garbage in them; the quarry at the gravel pit at Kilometre 20 has been a spot for people to dump off their old fridges and stoves.
I noticed the past two weekends people throwing out their household garbage bags on the road.
I assume the Local Government District of Mystery Lake (L.G.D.) at some point will address this mess; some of it has been there for months. And all for a $5 landfill fee.
I wonder if anyone has done a cost analysis on this venture? Is it worth the $5 in lieu of the money L.G.D. pays out to clean up this road and peoples garbage/stoves/fridges/couches/TV's/dressers/barbecues/ plywood and on and on?
Obviously we have a lot of people in Thompson who challenge the integrity of the environment by this behaviour. They are not vindicated; ignorance is bliss! They just don't get it.
I'd like to see the astute minds at the L.G.D. drop the $5 landfill fee and open up the landfill every day of the week for six months or so and see if there is a direct correlation between the fee and weekend availability to the landfill and the garbage on our secondary roads. (Another favourite dumping ground is out at the causeway past the Gillam Road).
My take is something has to be done.
Brian McCusker
Thompson
