I LOVE this island. It’s a beautiful place. Honestly, I believe it’s the most beautiful place in the world and I’m proud to call Guam home.

There’s a reason why over a million people come from all over the world to visit us. The Japanese, the Russians, the Filipinos, Chinese – they all come here to vacation in Guam’s beautiful landscape and water. The majority of their GVB surveys tell us this. We’ve been blessed with a paradise like no other place on Earth. The gentle breeze-swept palm trees, the white sand beaches, the lush green jungles, the beautiful blue ocean, the spectacular sunsets – it’s magnificent!

However, when I drive around the island and see plastic bags, bottles, paper, old tennis shoes and even full-sized bags of trash and refrigerators, it makes me furious. I can’t understand how people could possibly do this to our home.
Earlier this week, I was driving in the Dededo area. I was appalled at the amount of garbage: Refrigerators, water heaters, sofas, plastic bags and more had been tossed and discarded on the side of the road. My staff, Victor Cruz and Officer Paul Santos retrieved a few of the bags of trash and we found some interesting information. The owner of the trash is from a central village.

I’m going to have my staff work with members of the Islandwide Beautification Task Force and members of the Guam Police Department to identify the owners of this trash and cite them for littering.

Most of us learn personal responsibility as children. I remember my sister harping at me for not keeping my bedroom neat. She’d say, “Eddie, clean up your room.” Those who continue to trash the island, the ones who don’t yet understand the responsibility owed to future generations, will be held accountable. I don’t like having to get punitive. It’s the tough side of me which I don’t like to put forward but, something needs to be done about the trashing of this island.
It’s time to get tough and time to educate everyone with whom we share this island that we’re not going to tolerate the trashing of our island to continue. It’s not right for them and it’s not right for our community. I’m urging everyone to pitch in and help me get the word out because if we allow people to get away with littering, they’re not going to stop and the problem will never be solved.

I’m reaching out to everyone who cares about the beauty of this island to help me. When you see trash on the road, pick it up and then go one step further. See if you can find out who is responsible for this offensive act. If you find a name or an address or something to identify the offender, let us know. You can turn this information over to the GPD Community Assisted Policing Effort by calling 647-8923 or emailing gpdlitterbug[at]gmail.com. Another avenue to report this intolerable behavior is to call the Islandwide Beautification Task Force at 475-9380. It’s time we make the few people that are trashing our island know that we’re not going to take it anymore. Just because no one sees you doing it doesn’t mean it’s not wrong.
We’ve been gifted a paradise from God and it’s our responsibility to give this island to future generations in better shape than it was handed down to us. Please help me stop the trashing of our paradise island.