We went back to Holyoke this weekend to celebrate my father's 75th birthday (a bit ahead of schedule) with the family. While there, I happened to be looking out the bay window when a white SUV of some sort was driving by. The driver pitched a cigarette butt out of his window, and it ended up on the pavement in front of my parents' lawn.
Later that day, on the way home after dark, I saw no less than three other instances of this behavior while driving up Route 202 towards Orange. I'm sure we've all seen the characteristic spray of orange sparks as the still-burning remnants of tobacco spew out of a butt as it hits the asphalt.
Generally, I am against personal ownership of guns, but people like these make me want to arm myself. It's bad enough that smokers have succumbed to such a filthy and offensive habit in the first place, but then to compound their offense by littering and potentially causing fires in simply unpardonable. Do these people not have ashtrays? Is that butt so objectionable to them that they simply must rid their car of it at any cost? And if so, why then would anybody be expected to accept it when it ends up on their property?
Another issue is the morons who empty their ashtrays in parking lots. How hard can it be to walk to a trash can with an ashtray? At least these idiots are less likely to start a fire.
My proposed solution is rather draconian. I think that the tobacco companies should be encouraged to make their cigarettes more dangerous. Ramp the nicotine way up, add a bunch more tar - hell, add some paraquat while we're at it. Eventually, the problem of smokers littering from their cars would solve itself. Then we could move on to the "gum on the sidewalks" problem - but that is a whole other rant.
You can respond to my ranting here.
There, but for the grace of God, rant I.