Personal responsibility and government accountability
Say No
to Butts
Aren’t you tired of seeing people’s butts around town? They are everywhere—on the beach, down by the river, on the streets. They are disgusting and not only an eyesore in our community, they are downright dangerous. Since 2007, Save Our Shores has removed 466,000 of these butts. This is such a problem that our Assemblymember Mark Stone has had to introduce legislation to address this problem. That’s right—cigarette butt litter is polluting our community. It is the number one trash item at every single cleanup we conduct. It is the number one item collected on the Worldwide Annual Coastal Cleanup Day. And it is the number one trash item littered in the world. We have tried educating the public that these butts do not degrade because they have a plastic filter inside of them. As we know plastic is on our planet forever because it does not biodegrade. Yet butts continue to be littered. We installed several cigarette butt receptacles to collect butts but it seems like we would need one on every street corner in order to prevent the butts from ending up on the ground. It is time for a bold approach to cigarette butt litter. Assemblymember Stone’s bill 1504 would prohibit the sale of filtered cigarettes in the State of California. This is an innovative approach to a very tough problem.
Laura Kasa
Santa Cruz
FROM THE WEB
Fault Line
Re: “Plain Inhumane” (Letters, Feb. 12.html): A recent letter from a doctor states that it was society's fault that led to an arrest for drug addiction. I think not. When a person decides to do drugs, that’s not mine or anyone else’s fault. That was his choice, and with the understanding what that can lead to. Be responsible and lay the blame where it really belongs: with him and him alone.
James Toledo
Do Your Job!
Re: “Coming Around Again” (Currents, Feb. 15): All these county agencies who we depend upon to make us safe, and all they do is dance around the real issue. We have 100 to 200+ unrepentant criminals preying upon our community, and nobody is holding them accountable. Do your job!
Blake D.
No, Really,
Do Your Job!
Re: “Coming Around Again”: So when is the revolving door going to close? Basically we are inviting criminals & transients to Santa Cruz because they can get away with it around here? I mean, our judicial system must be handing out open invitations to commit crimes here in Santa Cruz as our recidivism rate is 10 percent higher than other cities statewide! Come on! And AB109 really does not sound that effective if it only has a 3-4 percent change, why waste funding on another program that doesn’t work? Get your political butts out of the clouds, your hands out of each other's pockets, and do something worthwhile to effectively clean up our city and clean up the streets. It’s not the police who aren't doing their job, it is the brownnosers pretending to be important while they sit on their ass doing nothing.
M.A.P.
Cleansing Pride
Re: “Gut Instinct” (Wellness, Feb. 5): Maria, of course I am proud of daughter Joy for spending countless hours providing us all with the information we needed to succeed, plus answering all of our questions, but also of you for your always excellent reporting.
June Smith
