Citizen’s Arrest

Remember that Indian?

The guy on the “Keep America Beautiful” spots in the 1970’s? I think of him every time I see piles of trash on the side of the roads. It’s commonplace now. People just throw trash out the window of the car. I may be looking back and idealizing things in the 70’s, but I don’t think that it was that bad back then. And I’m not a big enviro guy but this annoys me. I think most heavy enviro guys are basically anti-American and if they had their way, they would disembowel the economy of the USA overnight. Their record on the spotted owl scam alone is shameful. But the trash is bad. We’re acting like the uncivilized people I see driving the SUV’s every day on the Tappan Zee Bridge like it’s a video game.

What has changed since the 1970’s? Well, for one thing, we eat in the car. When I was a kid, my parents would have never considered allowing us to eat in the car. It just wasn’t done. Unless we were on a once-a-year family vacation, perhaps we’d break out sandwiches or something but that was a big deal. Now people are constantly eating the fast food in the car. And who wants the car smelling like old french fries? So out the window they go.

And I think that mores and morals have receded since then. People just don’t give a rip. Blame the disintegration of the family, blame the TV and movies, blame Cheney, who knows? But people are pound for pound more rude overall. So out the window the trash goes.

And don’t forget that there are flat out, more of us. So there’s more of everything.

And almost daily now on the NY Thruway, there’s a bus of prisoners in the orange jumpsuits, picking up the trash. And they do a heck of a job. And I suppose that while it costs us to bus them there and guard them, why not, right? But I fear that to many, seeing the prisoners just signals to certain types, that hey, it’s ok to heave stuff out the windows because the prisoners will take care of it.

Do the cops even ticket for this stuff anymore? I do. That’s right, I made a Citizen’s Arrest, the other day. I was cutting through the Westchester Community College on the way to work and I see the car in front of me start veering this way and that. Over the line, the works. So I watch. We’re in a wooded stretch and I’m way back and they don’t see me so I watch. Then I see the fast food stuff come out the windows. Cup. Bag. Something else. No shame. So as I gradually caught up and was behind her (it was a ‘her’) and before she ran the 4-way stop sign, I got the plate, make and model.

When I got to work, I called the campus security head and gave him the info, time, make model, plate, etc. He said that she would get a letter and have to go before the dean to be reprimanded. “Score!”, I thought. “Busted!” I felt like Malloy on Adam-12; all I needed was a donut from the D&D (that’s cop for Dunkin’ Donuts).

Now, when I come in to work, my boss says, “did you make a Citizen’s Arrest today?”. –fog

 

**** background on the guy in the spots ****

Iron Eyes Cody, the “Crying Indian” whose tearful face in 1970s television commercials became a powerful symbol of the anti-littering campaign, died Monday. He was in his 80s or early 90s.

Cody died of natural causes at 1:30 p.m. PST in his home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles, police spokesman Ed Funes said.

 

Cody, whose acting credits date back to silent movies and include dozens of films and television shows, was best known for the ads from the group Keep America Beautiful that showed him shedding a single tear as he watched people litter.

 

He was born in Oklahoma, but the exact date of birth wasn’t known. Reference books give various dates, from 1904 to 1915. Based on his credits, his most likely date of birth was 1907.

 

Cody followed his Cherokee Indian father, Thomas Long Plume, as a performer in circuses and Wild West shows and made his first film appearance as an extra in the 1919 silent “Back to God’s Country.”

 

Cody went on to appear in more than 80 films in Indian roles; often his character was listed as simply “Indian,” “Indian Chief” or “Indian Joe.” In one film, “Perils of Nyoka” in 1942, he had an uncredited role as “Arab.”

 

His other credits included “Sitting Bull” in 1954, “The Great Sioux Massacre” in 1965, “Nevada Smith” in 1966, “A Man Called Horse” in 1970 and “Ernest Goes to Camp” in 1987.

 

Cody also served as a technical adviser on Native American matters in films.

 

In television, he had guest appearances on “Bonanza,” “Gunsmoke” and “Rawhide.”

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