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Shopping carts litter neighborhood, man wants them gone
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BATON ROUGE - Dozens of shopping carts from stores on College Drive in Baton Rouge are not staying in the parking lots. They can be found in ditches and on streets far away from the businesses where they belong and many people are tired of seeing them.
Vernon Pitcher has lived of Balis Drive for decades and says his neighbors are the repeat offenders. He's asking for them to stop littering his community.
"I'm tired," he said. "I'm tired of talking about, I'm tired of taking them back, I'm tired of going and asking them to do it."
The carts are from Hobby Lobby, Walmart, Albertsons, Goodwill and other locations. Pitcher says the cart-dumping has been happening for years, but it's getting worse instead of better.
"I don't want our neighborhood value to go down behind some grocery baskets," he said.
It's a fear he has, which is why from time to time Pitcher will pick up the carts himself and take them back to the store.
"I remember one day I made three trips," he said. "You know, you talking almost 75 baskets."
He can't do that forever as the cycle continuously repeats itself. Now he's calling on his neighbors to pitch in and respect the other properties.
"You bring a basket, don't go back without a basket," said Pitcher. "Take the basket back. It's an eyesore."
Both Albertsons and Walmart on College Drive tell 2 On Your Side if it gets a call, someone from the store will pick up the carts, but there isn't much the store can do to prevent people from wheeling off with one.
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