Keep streets clean

I just finished reading the letters to the editor titled "Big Mountains Disgust Tourists" in the March 20 paper and "Sidewalk Dog Waste Enraging" on March 27. I agree with both letters.

On Sunday, March 16, I pocketed two plastic doggy bags, leashed up my golden retriever and walked from Crestwood Resort to downtown via Colorado Avenue, a good portion of the same route described in the previous letters. The sidewalk was so covered with dog waste it was appalling. The guests from Blaine, Wash., weren't exaggerating one bit.

Once downtown, I witnessed beer bottles, broken glass, candy wrappers and every other sort of trash imaginable along Central Avenue. I realize that the huge snow banks that covered some of the trash are just melting, exposing some of the trash for the first time since the heavy snows, but parts of what I witnessed were in areas that have not been covered by snow all winter, i.e. Flanagan's entrance, the empty lot next to Craggy Range, the planter on the corner of Central and Second next to The Corner Grill, etc.

I am aware of the planned beautification of downtown Whitefish with the proposed building at the corner of Spokane and Second that will cost more than a million dollars, that includes trees, plants, etc. If the city and/or business owners can't keep the downtown streets cleaned up of the trash that is there now, what good is it going to do to plant trees and do the other proposed improvements to beautify the city if it can't be kept any cleaner than it is now?

Recently, as I was walking my dog, I noticed a home owner on Colorado Avenue open his door and let two large, unleashed dogs out of the house to run into the neighborhood to relieve themselves with no human in sight.

As a dog owner, I hate to step on dog "grenades" as much as a non-dog owner, so I always have two plastic bags with me to pick up after my pooch.

Come on folks, set an example and pick up after your dogs. This lack of pride is obviously being noticed by the people who pay many of our salaries — the visitors to our community.

Dennis Drumheller

Whitefish