Dear editor,

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, my granddaughter, Maddox and I took my lawnmower and cart, garbage bags and garbage can down the street where I live and picked up trash from one end to the other. Two and a half hours later and five 39 gallon trash bags, and it was all picked up.

I just want to say that growing up in Iowa my parents taught my brothers and I not to litter. It was a big pet peeve of my mother’s and now one of mine. I have taught my children not to litter and now my grandchildren. Somewhere this teaching has ceased to exist in parenting.

Evidently parents don’t care if they litter themselves so they no longer teach their children not to.

You would think parents would want their children to be proud of their city and neighborhood by not throwing trash out.

It is ugly and when we had family come visit from Iowa. It was quite embarrassing especially when they commented on how much trash there was all over Selma.

This was the main reason I decided to pick up my street and hope that someone else will get up and pick up theirs.

I believe in paying forward.

Hopefully, it will encourage others to stop throwing trash out along the road. Doubtful but we can always hope.

We’ve already had trash thrown out on our street, and it hasn’t been 24 hours yet since picking it all up. Shame on you! Keep America and Selma beautiful!

Sue Lightfoot

Selma