Strewn across N.C.

Not so long ago, North Carolinians could brag on some of the prettiest countryside anywhere, and on the whole, one of the cleanest too. No longer. Our state is now a garbage dump.

The interstates are strewn, mile after mile, with shredded tires, pizza boxes, bottles and beer cans. State and county roads are sickening vistas of construction refuse, plastic sheets, buckets, cardboard boxes. Fast-food bags lie everywhere, as do plastic bottles, coffee cups and styrofoam plates. Plastic bags dot fields and decorate trees like hideous ornaments. Carpets, clothing, pillows -- even sofas and toilets are cast into the environment.

Household trash is dumped along roadsides at random. Many spots have become de facto landfills, and are doing a brisk business. And everywhere. beer and liquor bottles. All that alcohol being consumed on our roads doesn't seem to bother anyone, though.

Most citizens are apathetic, or maybe just blind. Developers, the real estate industry, politicians -- they don't care. Fast-food restaurants and convenience stores supply the trash and reap profits.

All should be ashamed of how filthy and disgusting they've let North Carolina become.

Rick Koobs

Clayton