Once the coronavirus became a pandemic and got its own name as COVID-19, there has been one constant theme – protect yourself and protect others.
It started with social distancing and telling people to wash their hands. It's grown to multiple states of emergency and mandated stay-at-home orders.
The snowball began to roll downhill after the NBA announced it was shutting down. The SEC basketball tournament held one night of games in Nashville and then announced the tournament would continue without fans. I thought that was one of the dumbest ideas I'd ever heard of. Common sense says those who had made plans to spend the week in Nashville were going to stay and flood the sports bars like rats and roaches and pack themselves in very tightly. The SEC quickly changed its mind and canceled the tournament just like other conferences did. Then came the decision to shutdown March Madness.
After the NBA pulled the plug, knowing it would cost them billions, everybody else had to follow suit because they didn't want to be the one group to hold an event and a bunch of people get sick.
As states, counties and municipalities began holding meetings to shutdown this or suspend that it got real on the local level. We can't shutdown Little League can we? Yes we did.
I said at the time I wasn't as concerned about the young players as I was about their grandparents who would come to watch. Spring break came and teens flocked to the beaches like nothing was happening and many took COVID-19 back to their communities.
I watched some of the video news crews did across the Gulf Coast. Most of those interviewed at the beaches said they weren't scared of the virus. That's all fine and dandy, but when you contract the virus by being stupid and take it home to you grandparents you are simply being an idiot.
A healthy teenager may easily get over COVID-19. It's not so easy for the 80-year old grandmother.
Not caring about yourself is one thing, but when you are selfish enough to put other people in danger, it's a different story.
For at least three weeks the Tri-City Ledger has either printed stories or editorials begging people not to flush wipes, paper towels and rags down the toilet.
Flomaton Utilities Superintendent Shaun Moye mentioned the potential problem at the town council's March 16 meeting, saying he had already talked to his counterparts in other municipalities and they were already having problems with clogged sewer pumps because people were flushing things other than toilet paper down the toilet.
We wrote an editorial in the March 26 edition entitled: PLEASE! Flush toilet paper only. You probably didn't even need to read the editorial to know what we were trying to say.
But guess what? Since last Wednesday, Flomaton has had three sewage spills and one burned up sewer pump due to rags, paper towels, wipes and cloth being flushed down the toilet.
Just FYI, those so-called flushable wipes don't need to be flushed down the toilet. As Moye told me, they'll flush down your toilet, but somewhere down the line they will cause problems.
There's a reason they call it toilet paper. It's a simple reason. It quickly breaks down in water and can easily pass through sewer lines and pumping stations. Don't believe me, pour some liquid on your kitchen counter and try and clean it up with toilet paper. Then pour the same amount of water on your counter and clean it up with a paper towel. The paper towel is still intact but you've got a mess of toilet paper in your hand.
As long as I've covered town council meetings, the one issue that gets people upset the most is when the governing body discusses raising water and sewer rates. Well, the good folks of Flomaton just helped burn up about an $8,000 sewer pump and if you don't stop flushing rags, towels and wipes down the toilet, you will burn up another $8,000 pump.
Where do you think the town will get that money? They will likely have to raise sewer rates. So your selfish act will not only cost you more money, but it will cost your responsible neighbors more money as well.
Simple rule: If it doesn't come out of your body, or it isn't toilet paper, it doesn't need to go down the toilet.
