The Mason Dixon Line

[Roxie]

For those who thought the Mason Dixon Line was imaginery....here are pictures of the REAL Mason Dixon Line, which is the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania.  One side of the posts reads Pennsylvania the other reads Maryland.  There is a road sign posted as you travel north into Yankee country warning where the line is located.....there is no such warning if you travel south on that highway.   :D 
If ya live Nath of this line, yer a Yankee....if ya live South of it, you're just regular folks. 

[Ironwood]

I pass by the Mason-Dixon line all the time on the way to Friendsville, Md. from Greensburg, Pa where I live. There is a sign or two there as well.

   In addition it seems like my nieghbors up here in Pa. are PIGS........................because I always notice how little roadside trash is evident south of the Mason-Dixon line. It is such a shame, Pa is blessed with beautiful topography, and great forests, the people just don't give a rat's a-- about the enviroment.

                         REID

[etat]

We got pretty clean roads around here.  Not saying they're perfect, but folks  in jail for lesser crimes spend their days on 'road crews' wearing red coveralls and picking up trash up and down the highways, and county roads followed by a deputy.  I won't say that it helps lower the crime rate but it sure does help keep these county roads cleaner.  Also pretty stiff fines for throwing out trash on the roads.  I even got a ticket myself one time, for throwing out a cigarette butt.

That's been years ago. I didn't think all that much about the ticket, I figured they wouldn't push it for a 50 dollar fine. That is until one day I got in the mail, a WARRANT for my arrest.  I went immediately and paid the fine which had became quite a bit more that 50 dollars by the time they tacked court costs, and contempt of court on to it. 

I kinda straightened my little butt up and marched on down there and paid my fine and got the charges dropped.  I don't want to be in jail for ANY reason, much less for throwing out a cigarette butt!

[Firewood Farm]

...I always notice how little roadside trash is evident south of the Mason-Dixon line. It is such a shame, Pa is blessed with beautiful topography, and great forests, the people just don't give a rat's a-- about the enviroment.

                         REID

Amen brother! It doesn't matter which direction you leave the state. The roads get cleaner (and much better) whether it's MD, OH, NY, DE, or even NJ (no offense intended).

[Fraxinus]

The trashiest roads I ever saw were in Arkansas.
Seems like in Pennsylvania, they should at least pick up the dead deer.  I'll guarantee no deer or moose would ever go to waste here in NH.

[ScottAR]

It's better now than it used to be...  We have some inmates in orange out and now the "adopt a highway"  where the boy scouts or a community club will adopt a couple miles of a highway and keep it clean. 

[fstedy]

  smiley_army_helmet We even have some regular folk here in New Jersey. smiley_army_helmet

[asy]

How COOL!

I thought the Mason-Dixon line was sorta folklore, as in it was a roughly about line, not a real actual draw it on a map line!

thanks Roxie!

I'm learning lots.

asy :D

[Camp Run Farm]

Trash along the road is my pet gripe.  Can't understand why people just open the window and throw it out, it has to have something to do with their upbringing.  The city of Pittsburgh must have professional trashers, any hillside in the city has washing machines, tires, TV's, you name it, all over the hillside.  I moved out of there thinking I was going to escape some of the litter, here in Armstrong County there is some absolutely beautiful countryside and there are people that try to make it look like a dump.  I pick up trash bags full of cans and bottles along our road.  I have tried to do a profile of the type of person that litters, I know for sure that most of them drink cheap beer and Mountain Dew.  Oh well it gives me something to do.  Pennsylvania doesn't make their jail inmates do anything, our governor and state legislators think that any type of work is cruel and unusual punishment.     

Ed

[asy]

Pennsylvania doesn't make their jail inmates do anything, our governor and state legislators think that any type of work is cruel and unusual punishment.     

Ed

That's what my kids say when I make them clean their rooms... :(

asy :D

[Ron Wenrich]

We have several problems with trash, just like any other state.  But, we import more trash than any other state.  Thank you NY, MD, and NJ.  We tried banning it, but were shot down in federal court.  Now, they're going to try to tax it to death.

A lot of those trucks don't have tarps over the top.  Guess how much crap blows off.  Then there are all those shards of rubber off of the trucks.  They blow tires and keep on going.  A lot of truck traffic goes through PA.

I clean up along my stretch of road.  A lot of debris is from trucks, and the rest seems to be cans and bottles.  Putting a deposit on those things would probably help.

As for dead deer, I've never seen any lay more than a couple of days at most.  There are guys that go around and pick up roadkill all the time. 

There are mountains of trash in the forests that are being cleaned up.  Volunteers go out and clean tons of trash and tires out of the woods.
http://www.cleanpaforests.org/cleanupsites.html 

People are pigs everywhere. We don't have the market cornered.  The potholes are another story.   >:(

[Norm]

Iowa put on a bottle and can deposit several years ago that has helped. We also have the adopt a highway thing too but it seems groups do it and then lose interest pretty quick. We clean up the trash in the ditches next to our property in the spring and I mow the grass in it if it's not too steep to get the tractor in it. You'd be amazed at the number of farmers that mow the ditches next to their fields around here, now that's a proud landowner.

Me I never throw any trash out of my pickup window, just look in the back seat and you can see it's all there. By the way us regular folks live in the north too...proud to be a yankee. ;D

[asy]

As for dead deer, I've never seen any lay more than a couple of days at most.  There are guys that go around and pick up roadkill all the time.

I'm almost scared to ask, but what do they DO with them?

asy :D

[Roxie]

 :D  Your right on there Ron!   :D  I was honestly thinking about going to several roads in this area where Maryland becomes Pennsylvania and taking a picture of the difference in the road.  You know you've left Maryland without the sign.  There is one road in particular which narrows from a wide two lane (with manicured shoulders) into a one lane dirt road entering PA!  Everytime I travel that road, I smile and tell myself that Pennsylvania must be trying to keep the "rural lane" feeling alive!   :D

[Roxie]

Asy, they incinerate them.  If you hit a deer in this state, and you call the game warden, you can take the deer if you want to do so.  Roadkill is edible if fresh.  The deer that are left laying have not been reported to the police or the game warden, because they are picked up around here quickly. 

[Minnesota_boy]

Asy,
When I find a fresh roadkill deer and have the time for it, I take it home and butcher it.  Many of them have little damage to the meat and if it is a real fresh kill. it make fine meat for the table.  I hate to see 40 to 60 pounds of good meat go to waste.

[asy]

hmm...

yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I love venison.

I was worried you were going to say they wasted them...

asy :D

[Ron Wenrich]

I always thought the roadkill was taken to jails to be used, as well as some of the "poorhouses". 

Now, if they ever got to cleaning up groundhogs, skunks and coons, that would be called job security.   :D

I've heard some pretty scary stories about hitting a bear.

[Roxie]

Do you know why the chicken crossed the road? ???











To prove to the possum, it COULD be done!   :D

[shopteacher]

At one time deer were taken to prisons, group homes and the like, but that was banned due to not being USDA certified.  In this part of Pa (southwest corner) the roadkill are left to rot on or along the road. If you travel I 70 from W. Virgina to the turnpike at New Stanton you will see deer carcase in all stages of decay. From last night's kill to one that is nothing left but some hide and bone.  The turkey buzzards are becoming more prevalent ( no no the one's in state government, there numbers are pretty steady) and the crows are cleaning up a little.  The game commission use to take care of the problem, but guess they have rose above that position. I heard they were trying to get private contractors at 35.00 a carcase, but the cost to pick them up and dispose of properly made it not lucrative enough.  Travel that stretch of I 70 and I'd just about bet you could see 20 to 50 carcases at about anytime of year.  More so at hunting season.

[Timber_Framer]

On eof the worst things that ever happened to American society was our becoming a "disposable" Nation :-\
I was surprised by the lack of trash along the roads onmy last visit to Mexico, but when I found out that the deposit on a case of beer was only $2 less then the beer I realized why...12pesos for beer, 10pesos for bottles ;D

[thecfarm]

The Fish and Game Dept will take the deer and throw it on the ice for the eagles and opreys to eat at times.Love those old back dirt roads.We have to turn off from a dirt road to get on to our deadend dirt road.Like to keep people who don't belong here away.Hunting season is our busiest time.But a 500 foot driveways keeps the road noise away.

[MemphisLogger]

Trash along the road is my pet gripe.  Can't understand why people just open the window and throw it out, it has to have something to do with their upbringing.     

Ed

Ed,

We have a program here in Tennessee where you can call an 800 number and report litterers' license plate number and they receive a warning letter from the state. I have the number programmed into my cell phone  ;D

Just to see how effective the program is, I turned in one of my 4x4ing buddies who had a bad habit of tossing bottles. When he got the warning, he got freaked-out scared and started keeping a trashb bin in the bed of his truck  ;) :D

[WH_Conley]

The bed and floorboard of my truck keep trash in em. I can clean the truck a lot easier than a roadside.

I have a couple of places that people can drive and run atv's on, I tell people that I don't care as long as they take their trash with em.

The trash will come closer to gettin you ran off than anything else. If that can would fit in the cooler to get there it will fit to take it back.

[Ron Wenrich]

My father-in-law used to wonder why some fishermen could carry full cans of beer to the fishin' hole, but never have the strength to carry out the empty ones.   :D