Power corrupts, absolute power makes you be tidy

Now the Colonial Heights City Council has things going in a positive direction. Not content with people using their trash and recycle bins, the city decided it needed to regulate where the cans are kept. Apparently side yards or backyards are the only places suitable for storing the cans between use, sort of like the law they have for campers, camper trailers, and boats on trailers.

It kind of makes you wonder what exactly is next on the agenda. Can we regulate other nuisances, like failing to put the milk away after you use it or brushing after meals—and don’t forget to floss twice a day?

At what point does a political body overstep its bounds from governing to mothering? In Civil Disobedience, a political treatise on government and governing bodies, Henry David Thoreau states “That government is best which governs least.” Put simply, the government ought to keep its nose in things that are the concerns of government.

Trash can policy is not a concern of the government; if they really want to dig into trash can policy they ought to see the debris and detritus left on the street after the trash collectors go whipping by in haste to finish their work day.

The city already has the authority to issue written or verbal warnings, according to City Attorney Hugh “Chip” P. Fisher, III. The director of public works has the authority to do so. Why not just enforce the existing laws? Why is it necessary to impose some ridiculous cattle prod in the shape of a $50, $100, or $150 fine?

When I was in high school my Science teacher demanded that we students have a spiral bound notebook for his class. I didn’t really think about it much, but when I came into class with a loose leaf notebook it set him in a rage. At the time, I didn’t bring the wrong kind of notebook as a form of civil disobedience. I didn’t even know who Thoreau was back then, and my experiences with Gandhi and Martin Luther King were tenuous at best.

Frankly, I had the loose leaf notebook because it was the only notebook I had. I figured some notebook was better than no notebook. That indiscretion earned me a whack on the seat of my pants. While I contend a notebook is a notebook, some people in power just have to have their own way.

How is this kind of rule any different?

Councilmen Kenny Frenier and Dianne Yates both said that trash and recycling bins serving as yard art in people’s front lawns were a concern. Mayor C. Scott Davis and Milton Freeland also supported the rule change and imposition of a fine for failure to comply. Davis said this change is another way to improve the aesthetics of the city. Really? Really? So I guess that makes this a city beautification ordinance.

Still, it’s hard for me to believe that so many citizens in our community take that issue to heart. Certainly leaving trash bins out by the street detracts a bit from the otherwise pristine quality of the city; however, we already have a means to press the constituency into “doing the right thing.”

It’s hard for me to believe that while these representatives were canvassing the city looking for votes and lecturing the citizens with their “vote for me” spiel any citizen would pop-off and say, “Oh, by the way, can you do something about all these trash and recycle bins left out in people’s front lawns?” How does a conversation move in that direction anyway?

To me, it reeks of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), or in layman’s terms micromanaging. Whether or not a few citizens complained, it seems ludicrous to try to regulate something as mundane as bringing in the trash and recycling bins. I know times are tough right now, but as a revenue source this isn’t like setting up radar on the Interstate and nailing unsuspecting speeders.

And why on earth is this such a big deal that it seems necessary to ride around the city checking everyone’s yards to make sure they move their receptacles to a respectable place? There are a hundred more important things for City Council to be doing other than cruising the neighborhoods looking for such miscreants.

The next step, I suppose, is an ordinance to ensure the citizens use proper personal hygiene. Who exactly would enforce such an ordinance is beyond me. It has been said “the job’s not complete until the paperwork is done.” This is probably no exception.