Daily Record Editorial
14/03/07 18:15 Filed in: NJ Bear
Issue
Is
that the trash police?
The state's foolishness over dealing with bears is beginning to rival what you would see in a cartoon. We've already commented on the silliness of the state proposing to spend $850,000 to educate residents in northwest New Jersey about bears. Now we learn that an apparent component of that idea is the dispatching of state Department of Environmental Protection workers to inspect trash cans. The trash-sweep is scheduled to cover Morris and four other counties: Sussex, Warren, Bergen and Passaic. Picture this: A uniformed state worker shows up at your house and asks, "May I please see your garbage can?"
The state's foolishness over dealing with bears is beginning to rival what you would see in a cartoon. We've already commented on the silliness of the state proposing to spend $850,000 to educate residents in northwest New Jersey about bears. Now we learn that an apparent component of that idea is the dispatching of state Department of Environmental Protection workers to inspect trash cans. The trash-sweep is scheduled to cover Morris and four other counties: Sussex, Warren, Bergen and Passaic. Picture this: A uniformed state worker shows up at your house and asks, "May I please see your garbage can?"
Assemblywoman
Alison McHose, R-Morris-Sussex, condemned the idea as
"DEP SWAT teams telling us how to live our lives."
McHose's rhetoric is a bit much, but her sentiments
are correct. There is no need for the DEP to spend
time, energy and money to tell people living in bear
country that bears like to get into garbage cans.
Residents, who live with bears, know that, just as
city dwellers understand alternate street parking
rules.
