Posted on 12/17/2003 12:40:12 AM PST by EUPHORIC
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Highway workers lament increase of human waste
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KENNEWICK -- Forced to clean up an increasing number of jugs and bags of human waste along highways, the Adams County Waste Reduction & Recycling office took out a full-page newspaper advertisement to combat the problem.
The ad features a photo of a plastic milk jug filled with urine, and the message, "Okay, One last time: This is not a urinal."
From March 4 to Nov. 27, 2002, one Adams County highway cleanup crew picked up 2,666 jugs of urine and 67 bags with human excrement in them.
The problem isn't limited to Adams County.
Megan Warfield, litter program coordinator for the state Department of Ecology, had posters printed that are similar to the newspaper ad and made them available for any county that wanted them. About a dozen counties have ordered copies to deal with the problem, she said.
"All of the cleanup crews encounter it. It's pretty much the same around the state," she said. "They're mostly found on interchanges near rest areas. Why can't they stop there?"
Ninety-nine percent of urine is sterile, but could be dangerous if it contains hepatitis or blood, she said.
Warfield said human waste falls under a newly created category that the Legislature created last spring: potentially dangerous litter.
Human waste, dirty diapers, cigarettes, cigars, tobacco or other items that can start a fire, and hypodermic needles or medical instruments designed to cut or pierce, fall into that category.
The fine is $1,025 for anyone caught dumping such waste, but the new penalty doesn't seem to be easing the problem.
Karen Cagle, who supervises highway cleanup crews in Eastern Washington, had never heard of urine jugs when she started her job in 1989. Now the numbers grow each year.
"Several years ago, we started finding them and didn't know what to do with them and left them. But you can't leave it there or the freeways would be (flooded)," she said. "It's incredible what's out there. Where is it going to stop?"
Gary Lembacher, who oversees the litter program in Eastern Washington, said he does not let the kids on his work crews pick up the bottles.
"I just don't trust any liquids," he said. "You don't know if it's pesticide or if there's something used in methamphetamine."
Taxpayer money not only pays for highway cleanup, but also pays for the state Department of Transportation to dispose of the human waste at the landfills.
"I don't know what the answer is," he said. "People are getting more out of control."
well, it could be, but the offense is not to use it while underway but to pitch it out as litter. the picture should show it lying on its side in the grass on a median.
Way back a long time ago (before the Interstates) there were these things called "service stations" that had bathrooms. They were far closer together (in distance and time) than the "rest areas" along the interstate.
Sometimes you just can't WAIT another hour to drive the 60 miles to the next "stop". Or, to put it another way---"When you gotta go, you gotta go."
At least folks are putting the result in containers---it could be "pee against a tree". Which is worse???
We have a Kennewick Man?
(How's that report coming?)
The containers, for sure.
Every other animal on the planet pees right where it stands, including animals on the side of the highways. If it were that dangerous to humans, we'd all be dead.
Will voters pay the price for roads? Debate rages over gas tax hike
Initiative 695 was the 1999 ballot measure that sought to abolish the state vehicle excise tax. Even though the courts threw it out as illegal, voter approval was so strong that lawmakers got rid of the tax anyway.
Rest area cuts may leave motorists high and dry
What would they do if the rest stop were closed on their next trip? The westbound Selah Creek stop is among the areas proposed for closure.
"Pee on the side of the road, if I had to go," Nita Murray said.
Looks like everyone is peeing on the side of the road anyway.
They're even leaving it conveniently containered. /sarcasm
Yes, ILLEGAL alien traffic. IMO.
The instant I saw the article I wondered, now if I had a van packed with ILLEGAL aliens would I stop at every rest area, gas station along the way as each "passenger" needed to go, or . . . . Same if I had a load of ILLEGAL drugs and was ILLEGAL myself, driving ILLEGALLY.
The problem "started several years ago" said the employee who started work in 1989. So did massive violations of our borders.
As we went up the hill to get to the treeline, it became apparent that it WAS a good spot, but it wasn't anymore. The piles of poop were so thick we couldn't even GET to the trees.
So it's not "guilt by association."
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