Bill Miller, Minot
What is the first thing people from outside Minot see when they enter Minot? Trash, trash and more trash. It doesn't matter which road or highway you drive into Minot, there is trash everywhere. I understand that Minot just experienced a devastating flood, however I lived through the Grand Forks flood of 1997 and there was not trash everywhere in Grand Forks like there is in Minot.
To add injury to insult, I actually witnessed the U.S. Highway 2/52 center median being mowed between Best Buy and Office Max and the highway crew just mowed over items of trash creating more trash but in substantially smaller pieces. I have read and seen local groups like the Cub/Boy Scouts, Minot Air Force base squadrons, and other groups picking up trash and I applaud their efforts.
I personally take my 7-year-old daughter out on our OHV once a week and pick up trash on Highway 52. Why do the leaders of Minot continue to look past this issue? Why don't we have work crews or better yet prisoners on work release out picking up trash? Something needs to be done as Minot appears very dirty and uninviting to people who visit. First impressions create lasting impressions. Let's take action and make Minot the Magic City a place to be proud of.