Looks like a some litter bugs were out this weekend along state Highway 111 and U.S. Highway 77 north.

The usually clean right of way was cluttered this morning with paper, a Stryofoam ice chest, bags, cans and an assortment of other items that could not be identified from a moving vehicle.

At one point it looked liked someone had emptied his garbage bag along the highway.

Plain an simple litter is ugly and disgusting.

According to the Don’t Mess with Texas Website:

n While research indicates that roadside litter has dropped by 33 percent since 2000, one out of two Texans still admits to littering.

n Approximately 827 million pieces of litter accumulate on Texas roadways each year.

n Tobacco trash is the most predominant form of litter found on Texas roadsides, and that's no wonder—23 percent of Texas smokers admit to tossing their butts out the window. Depending on the surrounding environment, it can take a cigarette butt up to 20 years to decompose because of the plastic in the filter.

n More than one-fourth (29 percent) of all litter items are food- related—from fast-food items to candy wrappers.

n Litter can harm animals. They can get caught in plastic six-pack rings or choke on virtually anything not properly contained in a trash receptacle, such as gum or cigarette butts.

n You can be fined up to $500 for littering in Texas.

n Not an inmate: 40 percent of Texans believe prisoners are responsible for cleaning up the highways, but actually, paid contractors are the prime labor source, and your tax dollars are paying for it.

n If every litterer in Texas picked up just six pieces of trash every month, our highways would be completely litter-free.

For more information on the cost of littering click on the Don’t Mess with Texas Website at http://www.dontmesswithtexa...

 

Maybe Willie or Lance or your neighbor Joe or Betty will take notice and thank you for your efforts to keep Texas’s roads and highways clean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last week I took a trip north on U.S.77.
It had been a while since I last traveled the highway that far north. I had forgotten how pretty the area is between La Grange and Giddings. As I saw the pine and cedar trees mixed in with the now brown and gray bare trees I could picture the beauty of the area in a couple more months when everything turns green with spring.
The trees and rocks that line the winding highway make for a beautiful drive no matter the season.
It was kind of ironic that I was thinking of the beauty of a new beginning as I was driving to the  funeral for one of my uncles. He and my dad farmed rice together for many years near Danbury in Brazoria County.  A few years after my dad's death, my uncle and aunt retired to the Lexington area, north of Giddings.
But I guess as I was thinking of a new chapter in nature's cycle, I was thinking of the new chapter in my aunt's and cousins' lives without their husband and father around. He loved the land and working with it, but he loved his family more than anything.
Here's praying that his soul is at peace and the beauty of nature will continue to bless the family and his memory.