
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 21, 1995                   TAG: 9503210091
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: MELISSA DEVAUGHN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IF BUTT'S NOTHING ELSE, IT'S LITTER

I was so happy last week to receive a plum assignment: Drive to rugged Highland County, and write about the last opening day of trout season. I have to admit, it was more fun than writing about Montgomery County School Board meetings, which sometimes last until midnight or later.

I couldn't help but feel like I got the upper hand on this deal. I was being paid to spend the weekend camping in the middle of nowhere, the Bullpasture River lulling me to sleep at night. The area seemed unspoiled and free of all the noise and confusion of a busy college town like Blacksburg.

While in Williamsville, I was lucky enough to meet about a quarter of the town's population: Charlie and R.E.

R.E. is a rescue squad member, firefighter and all-around volunteer in Williamsville. He and Charlie volunteered to drive me up to the Bullpasture Gorge and introduce me to some of the anglers camping up the river.

At an intersection on the way up the steep mountain road, I noticed the car in front of me - a big, blue four-door sedan with a dented rear fender and a bumper sticker that read "Don't laugh -at least it's paid for." As we pulled up behind the car, I saw the driver flick a smoldering cigarette out the window. The gleaming red tip rolled under our truck.

I became anxious, and had an uncontrollable urge to dive out of the truck before the burning butt blew the gas tank - and us - into oblivion.

Then I got angry. How could this person litter such a beautiful, pristine area with a stinky cigarette butt? It is not part of the natural landscape. It's not biodegradable.

It's trash.

I didn't act on my second instinct, which was to jump out of the truck, retrieve the soiled cigarette and hand it back to the driver. I imagined what I would say: "Excuse, me sir, but I think you dropped this ..."

When the man threw the cigarette out the window, an image flashed through my mind. You can see it too, next time you're driving from Christiansburg and need to take a left-hand turn onto Peppers Ferry Road to Radford. Look out your window at the median.

It's a cigarette butt graveyard.

The cigarette smoking issue is a controversial one. Should smoking be banned? Are cigarette manufacturers responsible for cigarette-related deaths? Should cigarettes be made flame-proof?

But amid all that controversy, I think of the driver of the blue car and forget all of the popular issues. There are no clear laws on these issues.

But there is a law that says it's illegal to litter.

As the car drove away, I said to R.E., "Look at that. I have nothing against smoking but WHY do people have to do that? Don't they know they're throwing trash out the window?"

His reply: "That's exactly why I spend so much time fighting fires."

by CNB