Letter to the Editor: ‘Please Haul Your Trash to the Transfer Station’

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Dear Community,

Thanks to Margrete Van Adrichem for her leadership in organizing our Benbow Neighborhood cleanup of Benbow Drive along the Eel river on Saturday Oct 16th. Special thanks to all the families who showed up to help! We ask for everyone’s help in caring for the beauty of nature that we are privileged to enjoy here in SOHUM.  We ask your help to make our neighbors more aware of their responsibility to not make their trash a community problem.

In this short year we have witnessed neighbors dragging their old grow-scene trailers, leaky boats, dead motorhomes, abandoned cars, tires, sofas, household and grow-scene trash, beer, and soda cans and bottles… and dumping it in our beautiful old growth redwood groves along the Eel river here  on Benbow Drive.

Please haul your trash to the transfer station. We are so fortunate to live amidst Natures splendor here in Sohum.

Bruce Burger

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27 Comments
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Alf
Guest
Alf
2 years ago

👍👍 to those who participated. 👎👎🖕to the dirtbags who keep dumping illegally. These POS types need to be incarcerated in a cell at the landfill and forced to do hard labor at the dump for the rest of their lives.

North west
Guest
North west
2 years ago

It’s not just your Redwoods. This type of scum is slimming up all of our back roads with every kind of trash imaginable. Cameras at the beginning of certain roads might help find these people

MariahgirlD
Member
Mariahgirl
2 years ago
Reply to  North west

It wouldn’t matter if they had cameras or not they don’t prosecute people for illegal dumping. I used to call in when people went by my house with a loaded pickup and came back empty and their first question was “did you get a license number “. “Yes, I ran right out there and followed them down the road!” They didn’t ask what the vehicle looked like or which way they were headed.

North west
Guest
North west
2 years ago
Reply to  Mariahgirl

We have to do all of the hard work that’s for sure and it is disheartening when they get a third warning without consequence. Is it the DAs job? We need serious consequences for dumping , it’s not just litter

Bug on a Windshield
Guest
Bug on a Windshield
2 years ago
Reply to  North west
ILoveplants
Guest
ILoveplants
2 years ago

With all the homeless camps, and homeless people stockpiling trash and recycling, that the transfer station won’t accept unless it’s sorted, and they won’t pay you for it, even though we pay crv at the store, it’s no wonder that people dump it on the side of the road. The trash crisis is real. The redway transfer station is picky, making people drive to willits or fortuna to dump scrap metal and recycling. With gas at $5 a gallon and no where locally to dispose of certain items, the result is dumping on the side of the road . There needs to be community dumpsters, paid for by our property taxes, and dumped at least twice a week. I’m tired of cleaning other peoples trash!

Last edited 2 years ago
hmm
Guest
hmm
2 years ago
Reply to  ILoveplants

Im always for more socialism in our system so I like what you are saying, but I think we also need to increase the penalties for illegal dumping and the law enforcement needs to do some sting operations.

Ernie Branscomb
Guest
Ernie Branscomb
2 years ago

Wow… Thank you. I hadn’t realized it has gotten that bad.

The little red car that was abandoned at the corner of Benbow Drive and the road to the park has been used as a spare parts source. All the useful parts are gone, next it will burn. Then the county will haul it off because it then becomes hazardous material.

I am not religious, but I read a lot. In the Bible it describes all the conditions of the end times. We have met them all. I keep looking forward to “The Rapture” where all the good people float off to heaven and the rest are left behind in their chaos. Then it occurred to me that it must have already happened.

c u 2morrowD
Member
2 years ago

it’s bad.

Kym Kemp
Admin
2 years ago

Snort…I’m still chuckling.

hmm
Guest
hmm
2 years ago

People have been saying we meet all the conditions for the “end times” for centuries. The predictions are similar to that of nostradamus or sylvia browne.

Guess
Guest
Guess
2 years ago

Be funnier if it wasn’t true!

Bobby Bee
Guest
Bobby Bee
2 years ago

Repture isn’t sound theology, although if you can’t read the signs of these times, then you just ain’t woke. Pray for the world’s conversion and buckle up cause we are actually living in the good Ole days, when we get the three days of darkness, it’s gonna get real × 10.

dawni
Guest
dawni
2 years ago

Thank you to the folks that are hauling other people’s trash to the dump.
I dare sat it is not just a trash problem we have but a rampant consumerism problem where nothing gets repaired anymore but gets replaced.
Even when trash gets hauled to the dump it is still a problem. Who is thinking that solves the problem of what to do with it? We are running out of options on how and where to dispose of the trash.
I was listening to a show about recycling and the woman speaking talked about how people think when they are “recycling” that solves how we deal with trash but that recycling is just another cover-up that isn’t working in our society. With trash pickup at home people are even less aware of how much trash they are generating daily, weekly, annually.
What really needs to happen is Reduce and Reuse. This is easier said than done even for someone paying attention.

Juanita
Guest
Juanita
2 years ago
Reply to  dawni

There is no “away”. You cannot throw anything away. It all stays right here on the planet. What is needed is much less of it. It all comes from stuff we buy & pay for. We need to go to the source. Glass instead of plastic. Paper (made from hemp or bamboo) instead of plastic.
I personally feel that it is too late to save ourselves, but I still try to repurpose, reuse, recycle and/or refuse to purchase.

Bobby Bee
Guest
Bobby Bee
2 years ago
Reply to  Juanita

Word, however always have hope. Remember UFOs are offend seen over top secrete places, as to taunt governments. Also Aliens have expressed sadness that us earthlings not talk to their creator enough, makes us heartless, and empty. Just read some comments, though highly educational, no wisdom

Bug on a Windshield
Guest
Bug on a Windshield
2 years ago
Reply to  dawni

Absolutely. Reduce. Reuse. Repair.

Our oven went out and we’re trying to fix it. People keep saying “just get a new one.” Our gas oven/range is c.1977. It’s chocolate brown, as in, original color, not grease and grime. It has two pieces of electronics: the light, and, the oven igniter. The oven safety valve is the issue. All the old guys and women have retired. The young repair folk look completely perplexed when they see it. It’s a simple part. We’ve found similar online, but nothing exact. No one wants to gut it and replace with new parts. I mean, if you can put a Chevy 350 into a Porsche 914, this can be done.

I don’t want to add to the landfill. I don’t want a bleeping new oven. Do they even come in brown anymore? White or black would clash with our decor. I don’t want an instruction manual and a bunch of buttons. I don’t even use the button for the light on ours.

Serious question:
Are there any old timers in town anymore? We’re in Eureka. DON’T say Poletsky’s, we’ve tried them.

Ernie Branscomb
Guest
Ernie Branscomb
2 years ago

As an old timer repair person, I will tell you than it is probably that glow bar igniter. If the ignitor comes on and glows the problem is definitely a bad ignitor. I know that sounds silly and not possible, but here’s the reason why.

The oven valve only opens when it senses enough wattage to open. It is in series with the glow bar. As the glow bar gets old it won’t transfer enough wattage to open the valve. It is designed that way so the oven gas won’t come on if it does not have a good source of ignition. That way is doesn’t fill your house with gas then ignite.

Please don’t think that I’m smart. I have learned every thing that I know the hard way. I remember the first time that I changed a “faulty oven valve” only to be laughed at by the real repairmen.

To get a repairman that really knows what he is doing, I am sorry but the only one that I know works for Poletsky’s in Fortuna. I guarantee that he will know the problem and where to get the part. Ask for Don Teehan. He’s an old guy like me.

If the glow bar doesn’t glow it could be a hundred different things. Are you sure you don’t need a new stove?

I was going to tell you to cook on a fire in your back yard, but nobody likes a smart ass…

Last edited 2 years ago
Bug on a Windshield
Guest
Bug on a Windshield
2 years ago

nobody likes a smart ass…

I guess that’s why I get the dirty looks. The stove top still works as well as the flat top wood stove that I like to use on occasion to save a penny, but mostly to say that I do. Otherwise we would be looking for a new one and/or cooking over the open fire.

Thanks. We will look into Teehan. We could be, uh, not right (never wrong), but, we were told by an old far…, timer that it was not the ignitor/glow bar, it is the oven safety valve. He just could not find the part.

By the way, it was Poletsky’s Eureka that couldn’t come close to helping us.

Ernie Branscomb
Guest
Ernie Branscomb
2 years ago

Does the glow bar glow when you turn the oven on. If you don’t answer yes or no I will just ask again. It takes three times to get my wife to answer what I ask, so I’m used to it. LOL

Bug on a Windshield
Guest
Bug on a Windshield
2 years ago

takes three times to get my wife to answer…

I know the feeling, but then she reminds me that she already answered me… each time. While I can figure out a whole heck of a lot of things, I’m not ashamed to admit she’s a better mechanic than I. She also plays a darn fine six string. I’m the tech guy and graphic artist. She’s been cleaning the jets and ports on this thing for decades and assures me there is no glow bar, she’s pretty sure. It does have a mercury switch, however. Supposedly, our guy either fixed that or said it was not the problem. But, she’ll give it a third once over and get ahold of Don.

OK. New information coming in. Uh huh. Uh huh. Yes dear. OK. Glow bar AND mercury switch? (She keeps telling me its NOT A SWITCH.) She’s told me what to look for when I stick head in the oven while she turns it on.

One ringy dingy. Two ringy dingy. Uh, hello. Don Teehan please.

Ernie Branscomb
Guest
Ernie Branscomb
2 years ago

Thank you. The fact that it has a mercury thingy changes the conversation. Model and serial number should get you a parts list.
I have found a lot of very oddball parts on ebay. Maybe???

dawni
Guest
dawni
2 years ago

My kids just bought a new refrigerator and upon seeing it I realized I do not even want to look for one of those since I imagine they are All electronic and I have heard so many stories of problems friends have when their fridge is still only a couple few years old… mine current one is 15 years or so old and reliable so I’m good for now. I do not need a fridge to beep at me after the door has been open 20 or 30 seconds because it’s programmed that way.
My dryer is really old and works better than any newer model I’ve used but I still need to replace the timer that went out so I use the one on the stove. Hopefully I can get that part. Ernie, I’m pretty sure I got that dryer from you when it was Sears on Redwood Drive, GBV! late 1980s?
I got the Speed Queen washer because a local repair guy advised me to go for a model that wasn’t electronic.
I am amazed at my neighbors that all fill up a big garbage can + a recycle bin for pickup Every week!
I still haul my trash to the trasnfer station and only have one can of real trash about once every 3 months. Can’t beat the price for that with weekly pick up costs. I break down everything so I have more recycle than true trash that has to be thrown in the landfill.
But recycle is becoming more of a problem because I know a certain amount of it isn’t getting recycled like it once was.

Bug on a Windshield
Guest
Bug on a Windshield
2 years ago
Reply to  dawni

dawni, let me ask you this: have you ever broken a spent bic lighter down to its separate materials? Metal spring and roller. Brass fittings. Perfectly good flint to be used in a Zippo later. Lots of plastic. I don’t get that detailed anymore, but you sound right up our alley. And I’m down with that.

hmm
Guest
hmm
2 years ago

We now all know that our recyclable are not actually being recycled at all. The CRV program is a joke as the CRV rate hasn’t been raised in over 20 years and recyclers are not mandated to accept CRV items in a manner that is reasonably convenient.

The obvious solution is to outlaw most uses of plastic. But people are so self-centered and short-sighted that they wont even consider this. We should be deeply ashamed that we failed to ban single use plastic bags and straws.

Plus many think that the rapture will come soon, so why bother trying to fix anything?

Antichrist
Guest
Antichrist
2 years ago
Reply to  hmm

It is because the state has raided the crv tax and they dont wish to admit that it hasnt been able to pay for itself in a long time . Just as the building department gets their pay checks from requiring permits for every little thing major conflict of interest there , the transfer station requiring so much work i sorting just to charge as much as they do is most likely why all the dumping on the side of roads and the like, i am certain if they could just dump and run at the transfer station like the garbage trucks do more of it would make it to where it is supposed to go.
Boomers are the most wasteful population i have ever experienced they want everything they want it new they want it cheap and they want it now. Recently had a boomer move in where i live , we have had to double the garbage as this single person creates more trash from all the on line shopping than the other 15 people living here combined

shortjohnson
Guest
shortjohnson
2 years ago

not a thought goes through the head of the folks dumping shit along the roads. Just isnt possible they reflect at all. WFT are they doing? I can only imagine they shit where they lay. like friggin pigeons.

Last edited 2 years ago