To the editor:

John Ross’ notion (April 12) that Lawrence should follow a German recycling model is a near-perfect example of why we should never look to the current European scene for anything other than what not to do.

Years ago, I lived in Massachusetts when they imposed a vigorous recycling program to include charging exorbitant fees for carting away large items. Subsequently, it was not uncommon to be greeted by someone else’s garbage on your front lawn when you woke up in the morning. Various and sundry items appeared in the most unlikely of places. Driving to work, I would often see couches, broken chairs and other assorted furniture pieces sitting by the road.

Faced with a ridiculously large fee, a significant portion of my (then) town’s residents simply drove out into the night and heaved their refuse to the side of the road. One day, when my car was halfway up a steep hill, I was confronted by a runaway roll-away bed traveling at high speed down the paved road. I missed it but the car behind me did not.

The only way to prevent this is to create a new police force of environmentalist enforcers to travel about in the night, guns and badges at the ready armed with the force of law and willingness to shoot and kill if necessary. Should this occur, may I suggest clothing them in brown shirts adorned with a really neat emblem right out of the pages of German history?