Editor, Daily Nexus,

I’m positive that 98 percent of all USCB students are fine citizens and great neighbors. Yet, at this time of year, your fellow students are endangering your legacy.

On Sunday, a small white pickup truck sped from a dirt road leading from a beautiful field next to my house. In it were two college-aged men. I have no way of knowing for sure if they were UCSB students. Experience has taught me that vehicles on this piece of cherished coastal open space usually translate into a problem.

The next morning, I was horrified to see a mattress and box spring discarded on the creek bank. Do I have proof the students were the culprits? No. Is it likely? Yes.

The university is working to improve its image to gain support for the Ellwood-Devereux Plan, and dedicated students are seeking increased cooperation with local landlords on the difficult housing issues. Yet these two people who dumped the mattresses have given my neighbors and I a daily reminder that the university and our student neighbors couldn’t care less about our community.

I am fully aware that I have no proof about the status of the driver of this vehicle. There is a distinct possibility that there is absolutely no association with UCSB. I do, however, have the license plate number and will be notifying the sheriff if the mattress is not gone by Friday. And the identities of the culprits will be discovered.

The real purpose of this letter is to send a message to people who are contemplating dumping their discarded items in an inappropriate manner. Please don’t do it. Certainly there is a more suitable legacy to leave than a rotting mattress.

BOB CRAIG