Letter to the Editor
Stop illegal dumping
Published Tuesday, April 22, 2008
April 19, 2008
To the editor:
This letter is in response to the people who are continually using the South Cushman Street area as a dumping ground, polluting and defacing the banks of the Tanana River in the process. The borough has already shelled out a quarter-million dollars to have this notorious dumping area cleaned up in the hopes of building the Tanana Lakes Recreation Area, which will be a wonderful addition to our fair city.
During the past weekend, a number of drums filled with waste oil were dumped and then subsequently used as shooting targets (luckily, the freezing temperatures expedited cleaning up the oil that was spilled). I wonder if the person who deposited the drums is aware that the Fairbanks North Star Borough has five transfer sites and a landfill that gladly accepts garbage of all shapes and sizes, including waste oil, for free?
That’s right, it is free for borough residents to use these facilities and they will take up to 26 gallons of waste oil per month. The FNSB Landfill is conveniently located at 455 Sanduri St., which is only minutes away from this illegal dumping ground.
So “dumpers,” do us all a favor and head on over to the landfill or transfer site(s) when getting rid of your refuse. I bet the landfill employees will even help you unload those heavy oil drums.
Community Discussion
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I agree. I go out to the SoCu flats often. Last weekend while I was out there with the rugrats there were more than two people shooting. THERES A SHOOTING RANGE NEARBY. Not to mention, we saw a severed moose head lying right on the side of the road. Needless to say, we cut our little road trip short. Initially, I was against the cleaning up of the SoCu flats. Now, I am all FOR it. It used to be the place we could go out and get away from town and traffic and drama, but too many people have abused the privilege. Now its nothing more than a dump. Way to go.
Freezee, next time you go out there, take a trash bag or two. I try and make a habit of taking one and filling it up before I leave. It's a short ride to the transfer station on the way back home, and with all the garbage on the ground, it doesn't take more than five minutes to fill.
I agree with Preston, AS A CHOICE I too will take bags out and clean up. I am not going to demand it out of Freeze or anyone else, but I will. I like taking the dogs for a run down the dike, as long as they dont get into some stinky moose guts that where carelessly left behind by a poacher. I cant wait until we have a nice park area!
I agree that people make a mess in that area. My son and I were there weekend before last, and since the shooting range was full, did some target practice. As always, we left the area a little cleaner than we found it. The shooting range is nice. When there are a lot of people shooting, it needs a range controller. I suspect that people use the South Cushman area as a shooting area, for the same reasons I do. Not everyone at the range has the same standards of safety I do.
That area has been a mess since I can remember. I enjoy the shooting range, and am with blazer that it needs a rangemaster at times.
As for the dead moose, you sure it wasnt taken by wolves? Sounds crazy, but I saw the biggest wolf I have ever seen in that area, just past the range. Also, lets not be so quick to judge this "poacher," we dont know their economic situation and I for one would take a moose out of season if it meant feeding my family.
Reader1: Freezee was right,except there are two severed moose heads ( a cow and a calf) right next to each other next to the road! So undoubtedly the guilty party(ies) must have had a large family to feed! It is obvious they were dumped there as there are no signs of scavenging. It is truly sad that this area can't be kept clean. We "used" to ride snowmachines across the Tanana at the end of Cushman Street to access the Flats. You can't imagine the number of times we came out of the flats and had people shooting in our direction and continued to do so even as we crossed the river in plain view of them! We asked the FSNB to put up "no shooting " signs which they did, but they were immediatley shot up and torn down. We don't do that anymore. Also if you are on the dike, you are in line with people who continue to shoot on the west side of the Lathrop/Cowles(?) extension. We live off of South Cushman Street and it was a shame to see the FNSB clean up the old cars and garbage last fall, only to be replaced literally the next day by newly burnt out cars. This is a real problem area and I could go on and on about the problems so it would be nice to be turned into a great recreation area which could be constantly monitored like Chena Lakes.
Well, regardless of what they do with that area, leave it, make it a park, whatever, it will take the actions of a lot of good people to keep it nice.
Yep. I imagine that once they start to develop it a bit, it'll get easier, though. If there's more people permanently out there (like for the Ice Park), it won't be as attractive a place to shoot.
The fairbanks landfill will take up to two vehicles per month per person with or without a title. Quite being lazy and just haul them there. With the free dumps and disposal of vehicles, battery, oil, brush, and what have you we should have the cleanest community in Alaska. Please help out, if I can do it with three kids by myself anyone can.
Perhaps the area needs a heavier law enforcement presence.
As an Alaskan I have always been appauled at the way residents of this Great State TRASH it. Whether it be the Bush or Fairbanks, Native or Non Native the worthless scum bags out to be put away!!
How much would it cost to put a big ol' fence keeping people from going back there at night? I realize it's a fun place to go four wheeling and snow machining but it seems like a lot of the garbage, parties, and illegal activites South Cushman is notorius for would go away if access were restricted at night.
People were shooting with little kids around which is quite dangerous and careless. I'm glad the author decided to cut their field trip short. But perhaps a call into the troopers letting them know there are people shooting out there would put a stop to that.
Is shooting illegal back there? I know there's an actual gun range back there but is there a definite boundary that clearly states the areas where shooting is prohibited? That area would be a lot more fun if it wasn't a notorious hotbet of criminal activity like a little miniature Detroit on the Southside of Fairbanks.
People who dump trash anywhere is why we have Environmentalist. They are the same people who hate Environmentalists, but they are the reason they are around.
Amazing isn't it?
You see the same thing everywhere, driving between Tok and Fairbanks, try stopping at one of the rest areas. As soon as you get out of your vehicle and look over the edge of the pullout, there are used diapers, trash from McDonalds, cigarette butts, and whatever else was in their vehicle. why people do this is beyond me. Have a little pride. Put you trash in a bag and drop it at the next place that has a trash can. It is that simple. I always have trash bags in my vehicle and always pick up other people's trash as it embarrasses me to have people travelling through our beautiful state or us (Alaskans) to see how we treat our own land.
It's really a sad and sorry thing. I imagine that most people just say, "hey, Alaska's the biggest state in the country, a little trash won't hurt at all." Unfortunately, trash doesn't spread evenly across the entire state. It stays where the people are.
I've had my mind changed on the pollution situation in Alaska merely by the sorry state of most of the places that I visit on a regular basis. The amount of litter is really astonishing... it far surpasses most places in the Lower 48, and I imagine that most litterers are thinking about how big Alaska is when compared with their bit of garbage.
I know I did when I first arrived.
Here's a possible solution, a public landfill. When South Cushman gets cleaned up and patroled, the individuals who insist on ruining it will go somewhere else to shoot, party, dump, burn, etc. Let's give them a place for it. Put a big fire pit in the middle for thier parties and let them litter and shoot themselves all they want.
And ther's a bonus too, all of the dumpster divers will have the "Mega-Mall" they've all dreamed of.
Word To the MAX common sense- u rock (and also, I'm starting to think that "common sense" is not so common anymore)- so back on topic, I do hate those delibarate polluters, we all polute on accident occasionaly, its forgivable, but those who do it on purpose, it just agrivates me. I mean come on, we only got ONE earth. but lets look at this from the other side, why should I take my garbage to the dump when I can take it out to Cushman, toss it on the ground ANY where and blast a couple slugs into it for good measure. and lets get real, whats one more oil drum going to do to the earth? huh? look at the exon valdez 13000000 gallons of oil was spilt, look at how much garbage is tossed on the ground every day, whats one more peice of trash going to do? and when I through my trash on the ground, It agrivates the hell out of you, and I know that someone else is going to pick it up... or they wont, what do I care? -- allright im back to the hate poluters me now. so what needs to be done is we need to educate these polluters to see the big picture, about how every act of kindness, no matter how small, does not go wasted. In more related terms, every bit of trash NOT thrown on the ground, no matter how small, helps. :)
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