Viewpoints
Revilla Road- Lake Harriet
Hunt Cleanup
by Jerry Cegelske
March 22, 2005
Tuesday
Friday I took a drive on Revilla Road to check on the amount
of trash, sort of like the weatherman sticking his head outside
to confirm there is snow on the ground, and sure enough there's
trash there to pick up. I thought that someone may have
accidentally developed a guilty conscience and cleaned up their
messes but I shouldn't have worried about that. I took
a picture of Lake Harriet Hunt, "What a view!", then
I got closer to the lake and what a view- the trash the slobs
left for us to clean up is not pretty. What they will end
up doing is putting the whole area off limits to the decent people
that care enough to not litter. But why should they care?
It's not their property.
Lake Harriet Hunt
Why is it necessary to take solid waste to LHH, burn it and leave
it for someone else to clean up? The landfill is free.
What is their excuse? What are they thinking- or do they?
Residents work for tour companies, residents own tour companies,
and our residents enjoy the out-of-doors otherwise they wouldn't
live here. Tourists use tour companies, both national and
local, enjoy the out-of-doors and pay for the privilege, especially
in Alaska, to see wildlife and the vistas we have. If they want
to see trash and litter they can stay home and save their money.
Why should they come here to look at our trash and pay to do
it? Like it or not we are more and more a tourist based
economy which can be hurt by the destruction of the image people
have of Alaska, and Ketchikan, by allowing litter to cover the
beautiful landscape we have.
I received an e-mail from a
resident who stated that they used to take visitors and guests
on Revilla Road to show them eagles, deer and bear. They
no longer do it because of all the trash, they are ashamed to
show people the littering and dumping that goes on. We
are letting the people that litter and dump trash control us
and what we do. They may rob us of the PRIVILEGE to
use public and private property the way it is supposed to be
used and cared for. You can bet that these slobs will be
some of the first to complain when the PRIVILEGE to use these
same lands is taken from them (note the environmental damage
in the picture with the carpet and board in it).
All the pictures were taken within 100 yards of LHH, with the
exception of the picture of the Lake itself.
Thanks to the Society of American Foresters for cleaning up their
mile 6 of North Tongass, it really looks nice. They got
about 12 bags of trash from their mile! A great job!
I hope you can help with the Revilla Road- Lake Harriet
Hunt cleanup, April 16, 2005, starting at 8:00 am. Check
in at the pull-out at mile 4.2 Revilla Road. As you
can see, the area needs your help.
Jerry Cegelske
Code enforcement - Ketchikan Gateway Borough
E-mail:
jerry.cegelske@borough.ketchikan.ak.us
907-228-6621
Ketchikan, AK - USA
All these pictures
were taken within 100 yards of Lake Harriet Hunt...
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