My wife and I have cleaned up Yankee Street three times a year under the Adopt-a-Highway program since 2005. We took over that duty in 2009 from my father, who couldn’t physically do it anymore.

We honor my father and mother, Charles and Peggy Waldron, but that’s not the focus of this column.

What interests us is some of the things we find along that two mile stretch. Most of what we have found is not particularly noteworthy except to indicate that we have a disposable country. The total of bits of cardboard, paper, aluminum, glass, plastic, etc. amounts to 20 to 25 Adopt-a-Highway bags per year. I’ve never seen that much litter and refuse except in south Asia, Italy and Greece.

Germany used to be spotless — not so much lately. Many places in this country look like a third-world country. I just visited my son-in-law and daughter, who live outside of New York. I was not favorably impressed by the cleanliness of the streets in the New York area.

Of more interest to us than streets elsewhere are the special items that we’ve found locally.

First, let me say that the people who live along Yankee Street are very proud of their properties and do a commendable job of picking up litter. However, they live along a busy street. We really appreciate the friendly waves and hellos we sometimes get from those people. Once, a resident and his wife recognized my father and me at Old Tavern Inn and bought us lunch. I’ll never forget that.

The most disturbing things we find are the small half pint bottles of alcohol. Most of them were filled with peppermint schnapps. Some were filled with cinnamon whiskey. I had never heard of cinnamon whiskey. Many were labeled with names that might appeal to young people. Clearly, some producers of spirits are marketing to the young. Last year we found 75 of these bottles! The vast majority of those bottles were tossed out of the car as people were leaving Niles. One theory is that the consumers had to drink the bottle before they got home. Everybody along the merchandise chain from the distillery to the store where they are sold should be ashamed of themselves.

In July, I found two syringes along the edge of that road. The explanation of that is a bit harder to figure out, but somebody was clearly irresponsible when he or she threw them from the car. Who would just toss a syringe along a public road? We’ve been warned to watch for methamphetamine paraphernalia, but we haven’t seen anything like that yet. Someday, we may see that too.

I agree with almost nothing that Michele Obama says. My exception to this is her warnings about the American diet. She is absolutely right that children should learn to eat healthier food. The program to make school food better may have gone too far, but her heart is in the right place on this. If the rubbish we find along Yankee Street is an indication, this country eats the most God-awful selection of junk food.

The good news is that the deposit charged on bottles seems to be working well.

People say that journalists write the first draft of history. Perhaps, this column could be a small thought in somebody’s book about the anthropology of this area when it’s written centuries from now.

That, by the way, is most pretentious thing I’ve ever written about myself. I apologize.

Perhaps, it’s from all those hours in the sun picking up trash along Yankee Street.

 

Michael Waldron is a retired lieutenant colonel, U.S. Army, who was born and raised in Niles. He previously served on the Niles Community School Board of Education. He can be reached at ml.waldron@sbcglobal.net.