EDMOND —
To the Editor:
Everyone who drives along I-35 between Covell Road and Sooner Road on a regular basis is aware of the fact that trash routinely blows out of the semi-trailer trucks carrying trash from the transfer station to the landfill, causing a safety problem for drivers and leaving the highway littered with trash.
This condition still exists despite Title 8 Chapter 8.32.110 of the Edmond ordinances, which requires all vehicles carrying trash to be “so constructed or loaded as to prevent any of the load from dropping, sifting, leaking, blowing or otherwise escaping,” and that such vehicles be equipped with a securely fastened cover. Violation is a Class B offense with a $249 fine upon conviction.
City officials were told about the problem last December, several times thereafter and again last month at a City Council meeting. Reporter James Coburn wrote an excellent account of that council meeting, the problem and the reaction of city officials in The Sun on Sept. 13.
But the trucks are still spewing trash.
Beyond the safety and litter problem, I-35 is Edmond’s portal to the world. Thousands of drivers each year take away an image of our city based on what they see as they drive through on the interstate. For too long, that image for many of them has consisted at least in part of huge semi-trailer trucks spewing trash.
Chapter 8.32.110 should be enforced. An editorial in The Sun and continued news coverage of the lack of enforcement would be in the best tradition of American journalism. Edmond voters should be told when their city government is doing its job and when it isn’t.
Ernie Schultz
Edmond
Opinion
LETTER: Reader wants trash ordinance enforced along I-35
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