Show pride in your town

Dear Editor,
    Do you want our town to look like a bunch of animals took it oyer? Well, Mrs. Sewell’s 8th grade English students didn’t. On Oct. 6, 2011, we ventured out into our community to try and make a big change. Each kid had a group of five or six people and a trash bag to try and pick up as much trash as we could. We all had to have latex gloves on to keep clean.
    I didn’t want our community to look like we aren’t clean and neither did my classmates. So we took our whole English class to help Houlton look greener. It took 20 full trash bags to clean a block of streets. Now, come on! That’s pretty sad. It’s not that hard to find a trash can and throw away our garbage. If you are done eating, hang on to your trash until you find somewhere proper to get rid of it.
    Did you know that if we put all of the solid waste collected in the U.S. in a line of average garbage trucks, that line of trucks could cross the country, extending from New York City to Los Angeles, more than 100 times? Yeah, it can. Everyone should have somewhere they can throw their trash away. For instance, at a baseball game, they should have a trash can every row so people don’t litter.
    If you litter in the town of Houlton, you can get fined a lot of money. In fact, the fine costs about $250. That should be enough to motivate people not to litter. But, instead, some people don’t really care what they do with their garbage. That’s why Houlton eighth grade English students wanted to prove to the community, that at least some people care.
    Do you want our town to look like a bunch of animals took over? Weil we sure don’t. I hope that my letter has persuaded you to take pride in our community, and to not make it look junky. Will everyone please try to make a difference in Houlton? And when the day comes that no garbage is kicking around, I’m sure you’ll thank me.
Piper Flewelling
Grade 8
Houlton Junior High School