SoCal Fires and a Note of Safety

I need to start today's entry on a serious note. All of you by now should know of the wild fires raging in southern California over the past few days. I received a note yesterday that my friends, the Nelsons, got out of harms way and are safely with family. I ask you all to take a moment and think of/pray for the firefighters, police, and rescue workers who are selflessly and tirelessly giving of their time and efforts to battle these blazes.

Times like this make me question how these fires get started in the first place. While I'm not a fire inspector or even a Rolaids Fireman of the Year award winner I can tell you what happens when you flick a lit cigarette onto a pile of dry paper or straw.....instant combustion. Now I'm not claiming that these blazes are the cause of a careless smoker or two but how many times have you been walking down the street or in your car driving and saw people just flick a lit cigarette out onto the sidewalk/street? Now imagine your driving along a forest and do that but instead of landing on the road it lands in a pile of dry pine needles....now you hopefully get the idea. Why is it that some jackass can throw his cigarette out of his window right in front of a cop and he doesn't get pulled over for littering or something even worse? Plus it annoys me to no end when I walk down the street and see nothing but butts on the ground. When I see these things...well I want to hit the person in the head with the business side of my penalty flag.

But all of this got me searching the Net for more information and I came upon a cool site: Litterbutt.com. On this site can report somebody you see in the car littering by reporting their plate and location of the infraction. They compile a list and if your state participates (currently only NC, PA, and TX) they work with the DMV to send a letter to the litterer telling them to stop it. While the letter doesn't really carry much "official" weight...it's enough to get some people to think. I don't encourage you, the readers, to do many things but I strongly urge you to go to the site, register and report people you see on the road. You can also compose a letter (using their template) to send to the Governor of your state to encourage their participation in the program.

Ok I'm off my soapbox and will be back with more hilarity tomorrow.