A California couple is refusing to back down after officials from the city of Benicia told them to stop picking up trash along the side of the road. Sindy Harris and her husband, Steve Morgan, worked hard to clean up 12 miles of Highway 780 as part of the Adopt-a-Highway program.
When the California Department of Transportation halted the program due to the global coronavirus pandemic, Sindy and Steve continued to clean the roads, focusing their attention on rural streets with very little traffic.
In just one day last week, they picked up 51 bags of trash.
‘It’s going to look a mess if we don’t pick up,” Sindy told the Vallejo Times Herald. “I can’t pick up stuff on the freeway anymore, but I guess the silver lining is I can still help pick up garbage on the streets. How many bags of trash we had today full of chemicals, paint cans was very eye-opening. I’m just doing my part on shedding light on this problem.”
Their good deeds caught the attention of city officials, who told them to stop picking up the trash. City officials were worried that many residents were not taking the stay at home orders seriously, and felt that the couple is setting a bad example to other people in the area.
“Even so, I must ask you to stop with the trash pick up at this time for several reasons. First, even though I’m sure you are being as safe as possible, you are still exposing yourself (and I presume others) unnecessarily," the Benicia city manager wrote in an email to Sindy and Steve. "Second, we are limiting our staffing to essential services so their exposure to the virus is limited as well. And lastly, we are having issues with some folks in town not taking this emergency seriously and not staying home. I would appreciate your help with modeling the right behavior for everyone."
Sindy replied, explaining that they were following social distancing guidelines while cleaning the streets.
“They want to see themselves as being on the right side of the issue,” she told KBCW, “even if it kind of throws common sense out the window.”
For now, Sindy and Steve plan to continue picking up trash on rural streets.
“The good news is, that the In Honor of Mother Earth team is now devoting its time to the dirtiest streets of Benicia and Vallejo,” she said. “That hasn’t been canceled yet!! We will be back someday to I-780. Until then, please show a little respect to our earth and to each other.”
Photo: KBCW