A local woman is raising a stink about trash being left on the road near R.F. Staples School.
Marleen Faye Etherington, who teaches at the Pibroch Colony School, says she is tired of cleaning up trash strewn near her home.
“Generally I’m cleaning most night before I go to bed,” said Marleen Faye Etherington.
“Just on weeknights, on weekends there’s nothing. It’s only that block and a half. It goes up to the Alliance Church and then about three vehicles deep heading towards the Husky. I know who does it and what they’re doing.”
After growing tired of the seemingly never-ending refuse, she finally called the authorities.
“I talked to the police because they sometimes sit there and give parking tickets,” she said.
“They said that when I see a group of kids sitting there for a long period of time and then there’s a mess, take down the licence plate number.
“I didn’t want to do that yet so I put a couple notes on some kids vehicles and asked them to clean up the mess. The first time I did it, the kids just cleaned it up.
“The second time I watched them as they threw more garbage on the ground.”
She added that she was reluctant to take down plate numbers and report them because then she would have to miss work to go to court, which she notes shouldn’t be her responsibility.
“It shouldn’t go to that point where I have to miss work to charge them with littering,” she said.
Etherington said that after she began leaving notes on cars, a lot of the problem went away briefly, though she added it varies from day to day.
“Every day they drop their lunches. It’s always things like Tim Hortons or McDonald’s,” she said. “
R.F. Staples vice-principal Jason Wiks said he was not aware of any complaints about garbage being left by students and that any incidents would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
“She could definitely contact us,” he said. “We try very hard to keep our grounds clean. If she has a concern with the school she should definitely talk to us.”
Etherington said she hoped whoever was responsible would clean up their act.
“It’s not litter, it’s dumping,” she said. “It’s like whole bags of McDonald’s and four cups with it. It’s not an accident. That’s what makes me grumpy. I have pride in my community.”
