Immigrants are damaging our area environment

Allen Kelley
Published: February 9, 2008

With all this talk about illegal immigration, I would like to point out one of my biggest worries about the situation. Our environment!

In the past three years I have witnessed the beauty of Virginia going downhill because of the lack of care for our land and rivers by illegal immigrants. I've witnessed with my own eyes how they throw their trash anywhere and trash rivers that used to be fun swimming holes to visit on hot summer days.

Stop at the Hazel River bridge on U.S. 522 near Boston and you will see what I mean. Latino graffiti litters the bridge, and broken beer bottles (Corona) are in the water. This really breaks my heart because I grew up swimming in this spot!

Look at the creek behind Food Lion (on the north side of town) and look at all of the shopping carts. I have even witnessed Latino males pushing them into this little creek that runs into Mountain Run. Mountain Run itself even has shopping carts pushed into it. Enough is enough!

Maybe CSE photographer Vince Vala can take a picture of that view and put it in your wonderful newspaper under local pictures!

It's time to kick out the old thinkers on our Board of Supervisors and Town Council and put people in that will help protect our wildlife, like Jerry Beckett and Julie Peppe to start with.