Boulderites don’t care about the age old question, whether a bear craps in the woods. But they have discovered that people do, and they’re mighty pissed off about it.
The “homeless” and “disenfranchised,” otherwise known as nature-loving bums, have take up residence in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests by the hundreds.
We understand their concern about the potential for “illegal fires” getting out of control and leading to massive forest fires, and for the trash that is left behind.
And we certainly back the endorsement of plastic bags, brought to us by the good folks at Petroleum Products, to truck out the garbage.
But we’re still scratching our collective heads over the “biohazard” issue:
“At West Magnolia, there is no running water,” said Nederland Fire Protection District Chief Rick Dirr. “All of these people, their excrement is scattered throughout the woods. There aren’t any bathrooms. From a biohazard, or whatever perspective … now we’ve just got a lot of people crapping in the woods.. And that’s not the experience I want my kids to have.”
So there you have it. Boulderites don’t want the peaceful, nature-loving, under-employed hippies on public lands near them, because they don’t have the decency to use non-existent toilets.
The homeless should leave no trace behind, they argue, but mostly, they should just leave.