OH MY GOODNESS! I FOUND A GUN!

 

Yesterday was eventful.  I decided when I reach my one million piece goal, I'm going to continue two more years with a new goal of two million pieces!  Why?  Because what I'm doing is really important.  I'm making a difference, and after taking some time off after work, I realized I'm happier when I'm picking up trash.

My son, Jason, had some really good ideas to motivate people to throw trash in the trash can instead of on the ground.  I immediately sent his ideas to Keep America Beautiful.  You don't have to pick up trash to make an impact.  You can share your ideas.  Everything helps.

I drove by the Dollar Store at Wilbeth & Main on my way to the dog park, and it was a terrible mess.  So that's where I went first tonight.

I noticed the store was closed.  Look at this horrible mess in their cardboard box trash can!  Yuck!

And so much trash all over the parking lot and sidewalk.  

Where does all this trash come from?  I don't generate this much trash in three months at home!

I got it all cleaned up, and I even emptied their cardboard box trash can  

I vowed I would never do that again.  The last time I emptied their cardboard box trash can, which is a really bad idea, there were mice in the bottom of the box.  Ick!

But I was careful, and I dragged it to the dumpster.  A cardboard box is better than nothing, but not if it's not emptied, and the trash is piled up into a peak and overflowing!

Now it looks like it should.  

I wonder why it was closed.  I'm hoping they were shut down because there was too much garbage laying around!  Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing?

There are lots of businesses on Main Street, and they are CLEAN!  

For some unknown reason, the Dollar Stores are allowed to let customers wade through trash.  

It will never make sense to me.

I cleaned all four corners of Wilbeth & Main, and when I was walking west on Wilbeth, an old man pulled his car up beside me and said, "Bless you!"

I was so touched by that.  Most people say, "Thank you!"  Some tell me it doesn't do any good, but not many people say, "Bless you."

I was still smiling when I reached the corner.  Then I saw accident debris!  Did I ever tell you how much I HATE picking up accident debris?  I'm sure I did.

Hundreds of pieces of car parts.  HUNDREDS!

And look at this big chunk of glass!  

Where on earth did that come from?  A headlight?  

I've never seen anything like it before.

I filled up my bucket five times.  The accident debris was scattered a block away, and all over the side of the road.

And all through the grass.

But car parts weren't all I found in the grass . . .

I found a gun.  

I carefully picked it up with my trash grabber and made sure it wasn't pointing at me when I took this picture.

I know nothing about guns, but I knew this was real.  I immediately called the Akron Police and the 911 person asked me if I touched it.  I told her no.

The police showed up, and it was a real gun.  The Dollar Store I just cleaned was closed a couple of weeks ago because someone robbed the store at gunpoint.  This could be the gun that was used in that robbery.

I sent a text to all my friends as I stood there waiting for the police.  One of my friends said, "Oh my gosh.  I was worried about that."  I replied,  "Better to worry that I don't find dangerous things like this." 

A child could have found this gun.

And that's why I'm going to continue picking up trash every day for two more years.