What beautiful parks and lakes we have in this town! But walking the path and road through Edgewater Park the other day, I counted 53 dead fish lying in the grass in various stages of decay.

The next morning on my walk, they were all gone, probably thanks to a park employee. And by that evening, there were already 36 more. We ask our pet owners to clean up after their pets, to keep our parks and lakes clean for the children to play and all to enjoy. We ask the people who enjoy meals in the park to throw their trash away before leaving. Why do we not insist that our fishermen and women clean up after themselves?

If you catch a fish and do not intend to keep it, is it too much to ask to throw it back into the water while still alive or into the garbage if dead? There are trash receptacles throughout the park. Your dead fish are unsightly, with sharp spines that are left after the meat has decayed, and a small danger to animals and children.

Enjoy yourselves and our beautiful lakes, but please, please clean up after yourselves. The leftovers of your hobby or hunting are other people’s trash. Thank you in advance.

Charlie Saul

Albert Lea