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No Butts About It - Grant Will Help Clean Littered Lakeshore

Jasmina Meyer/Highlands Today

Charlotte Denegar takes the last drag of her cigarette before disposing of it in the trash outside of Publix on Friday in Lake Placid. Denegar says she always disposes of her cigarette butts properly or she saves them in a device she keeps in her purse for another time.

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By Bill Rettew Jr. | Highlands Today

Published: June 6, 2008

LAKE PLACID — No ifs, ands or butts, Mike Eisenhart, coordinator of Keep Lake Placid Beautiful, is disgusted by discarded cigarette butts littered around town, and thanks to a $1,500 grant, he is doing something to change it.

Keep America Beautiful Inc., a national organization, awarded Keep Lake Placid Beautiful a $1,500 grant, as part of the 2008 Cigarette Litter Prevention program.

Included with the cash, which will pay for administering the project, with five other Florida areas, Lake Placid will receive 1,000 free pocket ashtrays. Additional ash tray receptacles will likely grace the downtown and parks.

By local proclamation, June was declared Cigarette Litter Prevention Week.

Tossing a lit cigarette is a misdemeanor violation of Florida law and is very inadvisable because of the chance of igniting a fire, said Police Chief Phil Williams.

But police use their own judgment when dealing with those who litter.

Williams said he has pulled motorists to the side of the roadway, after observing them litter, and then required the culprits to retrace their steps to clean up their mess.

Eisenhart will divide the town into sections. He hopes to enlist local groups, including the Boy Scouts, merchants association and the Jaycees. These volunteers would inspect or scan specific target areas – Interlake Boulevard, South Main Avenue, North Main Avenue and the parks.

"Based on the scan results, we'll distribute the pocket ashtrays into those areas where the scan told us we had a problem – recognized as challenge areas," said Eisenhart. "What we find out from the scan, and what we identify as the problem areas, will be used to solve these problems.

"This is a good way to address what could become a larger problem."

Eisenhart noted that some areas of town are littered with up to three inches deep of butts, especially in roadside gutters and near intersections.

"It's going to make a difference," said Eisenhart. "It will bring awareness and it's going to provide a way to solve a problem. We're not getting just a warm, fuzzy feeling."

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