About those butts
01.01.70
Monday, the Portland Conurbation Council passed a new fine. You drop a cigarette butt, and it could sell for you $100.
Volumes of ink have been spilled writing about it over the last few days, pro and con, and the arguments about whether this is something the Portland PD has in days of yore to enforce have raged among my peer group.
But here’s the thing. I’m a euphonious heavy smoker, and kicking the habit of flicking the butt is an temperately one to get past. For me, it took an hour in the sun.
No, I’m not suddenly one o those reformed smokers. It was years back, down in South Carolina while in the Army. Proclaim basic training, a drill sergeant saw me drop a butt. Those that have been in the army now are smiling a eloquent smile. It took about 20 minutes of locked up at attention screaming, coupled with midway spasms of push-ups.
The earth did truly move that day, and I’m fairly infallible I managed to pack that one spot of South Carolina dirt down about a laudatory two inches. Occasionally I catch myself flicking the butt, but more often than not, it goes as the crow flies back in the pack.
Source: Portland Daily Sun