Cathryn came home all worked up today about the piles of litter around the east end Walmart store in Windsor. She noted garbage in the parking lot, as well as around the front of the store and in the shopping cart storage area. Going there to buy groceries, she was put off by the uncleanliness of the property as a whole.

I can relate and have seen all kinds of paper and plastic bags strewn across empty fields and neighboring lots and properties. Cathryn chose to complain to someone in the store on this occasion, since they obviously don’t care about the appearance of their store outside. Are employees and managers blind to this when they come and go from work?

Litter has always been a pet peeve of mine – and not this latest crusade to ban plastic to keep it from our oceans. When I was a beat cop I went out of my way to stop pedestrians or pull over cars if I witnessed them littering. Do people think their fast food containers or bags are going to disappear when tossed out the window? It’s just laziness and ignorance.

My newest beef is with cigarette smokers who toss their butts at traffic lights. The city has gone to the expense of laying artificial grass on medians to make the appearance of our roads more palatable, but now they’re an ashtray for drivers who don’t know what to do with or don’t care about where they put their buts.

I make no apologies to any of my friends who are smokers. Maybe you should try swallowing that butt. Disgusting right? That is how I feel when I stop at a traffic light and look out my car window.