There ought to be enforceable laws prohibiting unsolicited advertising placed under vehicle windshield wipers, attached to doorknobs and thrown on porches and lawns.

Don't cite the First Amendment as a defense. Commercial speech isn't protected by the United States Constitution. Neither are trespassing and littering.

While semi-effective methods exist to stop unsolicited telephone calls, junk mail and cyberspam, few ordinances effectively prohibit the placing of unwanted promotional literature on vehicles and other private property.

Retail stores obviously don't invite individuals to place flyers under vehicle wipers of customers in parking lots.

More often than not, the junk ads are subsequently discarded on the lots and streets and add to cleanup costs for stores and municipalities. The unsightly discards are visual pollution negatively affecting livability.

And that unwanted junk on doorknobs, porches and lawns openly announces to criminals that the properties are unoccupied and unprotected.

Stop junk placed on property.(20 AUGUST 2000)

E-mail: higgens@aol.com