littering :( got a ticket... (Austin, Sunset Valley: contractors, taxes, rated)

[ATX Wahine]

I actually agree with you, THL. Activism can conjure an image of hysterical screeching PETA members dumping paint on the fur coat of a complete stranger ... or it can be the grandpa forcing his grandson to get out of the truck to pick up his banana peel. If you see something you don't like and act upon it, you are an activist. I don't like feral in-your-face cause thumping for ANYTHING, but I definitely believe in acting upon causes ... and for me, littering is something we can all pitch in and easily eradicate. No megaphones, protests, or expensive ad campaigns should be required in order for people to just use common freakin' sense.

To the OP: this is not intended for you personally - there are millions of people out there who are guilty of the same crime.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by Nor Cal Wahine

I actually agree with you, THL. Activism can conjure an image of hysterical screeching PETA members dumping paint on the fur coat of a complete stranger ... or it can be the grandpa forcing his grandson to get out of the truck to pick up his banana peel. If you see something you don't like and act upon it, you are an activist. I don't like feral in-your-face cause thumping for ANYTHING, but I definitely believe in acting upon causes ... and for me, littering is something we can all pitch in and easily eradicate. No megaphones, protests, or expensive ad campaigns should be required in order for people to just use common freakin' sense.

To the OP: this is not intended for you personally - there are millions of people out there who are guilty of the same crime.

ABSOLUTELY (the bolded part). Why is this so hard?

When I was growing up (in the 1950's), my mother, city-raised, thought it was no big deal to throw a banana peel or an apple out the window in the country because "the animals will eat it", but told me to NEVER throw any such thing out the window in the city because it would just lie there and be gross. My father, country-raised, thought it was no big deal to throw something out the window in the city because "the street cleaner will come along and clean it up", but absolutely do NOT throw anything out the window in the country because there were no street cleaners. (Years later I realized that this was a ploy on their part to make sure I got the idea that one was never to throw anything out the window ANYWHERE.)

They also taught me, carefully, the "What if everybody did it" explanation of why things that I wanted to do that looked innocuous might not be so. First example I can remember is that I wanted to stop and pick some flowers by the side of the road. They carefully explained that my little bouquet of wild flowers wouldn't be a problem, but if everybody that came down the road stopped and picked just a little bouquet of flowers, pretty soon there'd be no more flowers for us to enjoy, not just this year but ever (because the wildflowers wouldn't be there to go to seed and prepare for next year).

So, if I wanted to do something, I was to apply that thought process to it BEFORE doing it. It's called being responsible for the consequences of your own actions, which means thinking about them beforehand.

Or, as you say, common freakin' sense!

[JayBrown80]

Originally Posted by oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots

Here it's like the level of blame goes no further than to the average joe/joan. As if somehow if we understand why this guy threw his cig butt out the window we'll have a better understanding of why the ice cap is melting.

And, having said that perhaps it IS melting because of cig butts.

Let's talk about this COPENHAGEN Climate Conference 2009

vs


trying to analyze why someone threw a butt out the window.

But this post is about someone throwing a cigarette butt out of a window. If we want to talk about Copenhagen (and I do), then we need to open a seperate post on that. If you do open one flowerpots, let me know. I would be interested in hearing what you have to say.

[mattpresley]

old toilets make good flower pots

[the minx]

Sunset Valley PD will snag you for just about anything. Now you know.

[AGA]

Originally Posted by oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots

OMG, leave the guy alone already!

Thank you, oldtoilets...

I am flattered that I have generated so much "talk" and "debate". I honestly had no idea it would become such a fervor but I am happy that my "misfortune" is somehow seen as a catalyst for dissecting the thoughts and actions of EVERY smoker that ever tossed a butt out the window.

For the record, I have never seen commercial of a singing whale or what-have-you begging for me to not toss my butt out the window.

FYI the fine is $70 including court costs (the online fee schedule, which has a date of 2005, said 153... and in reviewing the same fee/fine schedule for Sunset Valley I observed that the fine for an unrestrained child under the age of 2 or 4 is only slightly more at 200) Let's debate the rationale of that for a while and let me take a break to go buy an in-car ash receptacle...

Texas Horse Lady...I will be happy to answer your question via private message if you are still interested, but only on the condition my answer will not be made public...I would certainly be curious as to what a violator of the child restraint laws for infants/toddlers would have to say in a similar situation.

To those who realized my intention, thank you. To those who felt the need to lynch me even AFTER my confession and awakening, I only hope your glass houses are nice and shiny so I can find them.

[JayBrown80]

Originally Posted by AGA

Thank you, oldtoilets...


For the record, I have never seen commercial of a singing whale or what-have-you begging for me to not toss my butt out the window.

.

Oh my gosh, you are missing out. They ran that one for years.

Shamu, and the Texas Tuxedos, yeah you, we go everywhere he goes.......

[AGA]

Don't Mess with Texas - TV Vault (http://dontmesswithtexas.org/view-ads-tv.php - broken link)

Wow!

And as an aside...of the 38 video clips I just watched only 3 had or made reference to cigarettes.
And I can honestly say I have NEVER seen ANY of these commercials (that I recall)...and I have lived here nearly 7 yrs. If I did see them they were obviously not memorable. That may be the answer to Texas Horselady's question

I do remember an anti litter commercial from my youth with a crying Indian....

[JayBrown80]

Originally Posted by AGA

Don't Mess with Texas - TV Vault (http://dontmesswithtexas.org/view-ads-tv.php - broken link)

Wow!

OH MY GOD, YOU JUST MADE MY DAY.


That brings back memories.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by AGA

Don't Mess with Texas - TV Vault (http://dontmesswithtexas.org/view-ads-tv.php - broken link)

Wow!

And as an aside...of the 38 video clips I just watched only 3 had or made reference to cigarettes.
And I can honestly say I have NEVER seen ANY of these commercials (that I recall)...and I have lived here nearly 7 yrs. If I did see them they were obviously not memorable. That may be the answer to Texas Horselady's question

I do remember an anti litter commercial from my youth with a crying Indian....

So this seems to indicate that you somehow didn't realize that cigarettes, just like anything else you throw out a window, were litter. (I doubt the clips mentioned every item that could possibly be thrown out a window.). Interesting perspective.

I've not seen the Shamu ones, for what it's worth, but there have been several running recently involving several of our home-grown nationally/internationally famous musicians, just like in the old days when Willie and Stevie did such commercials. Now it's Willie and more "current" musicians doing the commercials.

And, yes, I'd like to hear your response privately. I won't post it to the forum or anything, promise. (That would be a violation of your copyright, anyway, and I'm all about copyright law!)