While it's not like having your face on a poster in the Post Office, there's somebody out there with a truck camper on a 4-door white pickup that may want to lie really low for a while. Not only is he a dandy candidate for the "Stupid RVer Award," if what he's said to have done is true, he's apt to be looking at some pretty steep fines.Back on June 25th, surveillance cameras at a Wheat Ridge, Colorado high school recorded pictures of a suspicious looking situation. A truck camper rolls to a stop in a parking lot, near a storm drain. The driver hangs around the lot for a while, then finally pulls away. Later, a large quantity of raw sewage is found in the retention pond that holds storm water caught by that earlier mentioned storm drain.
Police say they've had a 'Eureka Moment' and think they now have the pictures of dastardly dumper of doo-doo, or perhaps its the black-heart of black water. In any event, the camper and the driver have now appeared on the Denver television, and presumably are plastered in the printed press as well. While to some the situation might be an overblown issue, school officials aren't laughing. As the owners of the retention pond, they've been forced to hire an environmental cleanup company to purge the pond of the unwelcome unsanitary sludge, they say to the tune of nearly a quarter million dollars.
A couple of things come to our minds: First, if this fellow is really responsible, a hearty "Shame on you!" He's the kind of character that besmirches the reputation of the rest of us who do our utmost to properly dispose of our wastes, both solid and liquid. But at the same time, if the camper is parked in the "dumping position," then in our book, its a "wee bit" unusual. True enough, not all campers have street-side dump ports, but it seems the majority do. If this one does, do you see any hose, or any evidence of sewage being drained out of the rig? Or is it possible the guy needed a break, stopped for a few minutes, and some other yo-yo was the one who did the dirty?
And a final question: What amazing tools and techniques will the Wheat Ridge CSI folks use to pin the rap on --or exonerate-- Mr. Camperman, should he ever be tracked down? RV sleuths, we're listening!
If you have information about the crime, please call the Wheat Ridge Police Department at (303) 237-2220.
photo courtesy the denver channel and Wheat Ridge, Colorado police
