LITTER WAR DECLARED ON CITY STREETS

The amount of litter on Cape Girardeau's streets led some to declare this summer the most trashy ever.

Members of the Chamber of Commerce's Beautification Committee want to change people's attitudes about litter, making them care about their community's cleanliness.

Education is the key, said committee chairwoman Adele Kupchella. People young and old don't realize what they're doing when they toss trash on the ground.

"We tend to think it's just the kids and complain that parents should teach them not to litter," Kupchella said. "That isn't the case. Someone on the committee was following an elderly woman in a Cadillac, and the woman just put down her window and dropped a bag of trash."

As a first step in improving the situation, the committee members invited community-oriented police officer Charlie Herbst to speak at a Tuesday meeting at the Chamber of Commerce building.

Herbst said the city has several laws against littering, but many people aren't aware of them.

The city code prohibits littering in public places, sweeping trash, leaves or grass clippings into gutters and posting notices on telephone poles.

Another little-known law prohibits a big litter generator: placing handbills under car windshield wipers. It can be done only on private lots with the owner's permission.

"People look at the handbills, see what they say and throw them on the ground," Herbst said.

He said the problem got out of hand last spring at Cape Central High School. Employees of The Raven, a now-closed coffee house, were putting advertising fliers on windshields at the high school. The students took the fliers off and threw them on the parking lot.

Herbst said The Raven's owner was given a choice -- clean up the fliers or receive a court summons. He cleaned up the fliers.

Some litterbugs are caught by other citizens, Herbst said. Conscientious Cape Girardeau residents have seen someone drop trash out of a car window, obtained the offender's license plate number, picked up the trash and reported the incident to the police.

Police then determined who was driving the car at the time of the incident and issued that person a summons. If convicted, the littering party may receive a $50 fine plus $21 court costs.

Litter trouble spots include much of Good Hope Street, a path between Cape Central High School and McDonald's, the area around Don's Store 24 and Capaha Park after weekends.

Although the Beautification Committee hasn't decided what to do, members unofficially agreed Tuesday to begin an education drive. They also considered ways of funding more trash cans to be placed around town.