Don't leave cigarettes for toddlers to pick up

This letter is to all the parents in Sandpoint who are tired of people treating our parks like a big ashtray.

I cannot take my toddlers to the City Beach or Travers Park or even the new Memorial Field children's park without them constantly bringing me people's cigarette butts and asking me to throw them away. Now tell me, should this be the job of a 1- and 2-year-old? Who is the adult here?

There are garbage cans all over the place and yet people seem to think that because it is sand that it can be used as an ash tray. Come on guys! It is bad enough that you are smoking around our little ones, do you really have to go and set the example of littering being OK? Last I heard those are not biodegradable. Do you really like building a sand castle with your babies and having to constantly be filtering out the butts? I know I don't. We complain about not trashing our waterfronts and yet we are not responsible enough to take care of the small stuff. Let's get it together guys.

KARLA YETTER

Sandpoint