Drink plenty of water. Conserve water. Wear sunscreen. Stay out of the sun.
The rules for dealing with hot weather sometimes seem conflicting. But one is as clear as the summer sky: Do not toss your cigarettes anywhere other than an ashtray.
This shouldn’t be difficult to understand. But apparently it’s beyond some people’s brain capacity, as evidenced by the number of roadside fires we’ve seen in the area lately.
Blame it on the heat, but we’ve run out patience. We report drunk drivers. We report aggressive drivers. Let’s report the idiots who throw their cigarettes out their car windows and put our lives and countryside in danger.
The penalty for throwing that burning cigarette on the ground just jumped from $950 to $1,025. Not enough, if you ask us. Let offenders pay steeper fines out of their cigarette allowance. Nobody should have to sacrifice safety for someone else’s blatant disregard for other’s lives and property.
Firefighters are being called out to at least one brush fire a day and the fire on Spencer Island between Everett and Marysville is expected to smolder for several more days. Between 15 and 20 acres has already been burned and here’s a shocker: officials believe a discarded cigarette is to blame. Actually, the person who tossed it is to blame. How much is this costing taxpayers? How many times have we heard of recklessly tossed cigarettes causing severe forest fires that cost us land and even lives?
If you smoke responsibly (forgive the oxymoron) then this message isn’t for you. And you won’t have to worry about the Washington State Patrol troopers coming after you.
For those of us who don’t smoke and are sick to death of watching those little white butts flick and flip through freeway traffic as we say a little prayer that it won’t get under our car and cause a fire, feel free to do something about it. If you can get the license plate number and safely pull over to the side of the road to use your phone and report the violation, go for it. You probably won’t ever know the result of your efforts, but it can’t hurt to use a little peer pressure to snuff this problem out.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
