Saturday was a wet, dreary day in most parts of the North Country. It was foggy in many parts of the area and the air hung low over valleys and neighborhoods.

Expecting a sweet-smelling, misty smack in the face from Mother Nature on that autumn day, some were greeted with the foul odor of someone burning their garbage. It wasn't the aroma from burning leaves, a homeowner's chimney or woodstove or even from those controversial wood-burning outdoor furnaces that have raised the ire of residents throughout Clinton County.

It was garbage! And it wasn't paper, cardboard or wood. It was plastic and other materials that send a toxic plume of smoke into the atmosphere and — on days like Saturday — throughout an unsuspecting neighborhood. Simply, it's unpleasant. And for those with asthma and other breathing difficulties, that toxic smoke is extremely dangerous.

Despite widespread reports about the hazards of burning garbage in the old burn barrel, it continues to be a problem.

Some homeowners just don't get it. Others, perhaps, can't afford to have their garbage carried off to the county landfill via a private hauler. Or they can't afford to drive to a landfill or a nearby convenience station to pay to dump their trash. Instead, they burn it or dump their garbage along a deserted town road. To them, we suggest they find another solution.

Local municipalities are somewhat hesitant to institute local laws to address the burn-barrel issue. Yet, they're quick on the trigger when it comes to regulating the popular outdoor wood furnaces. What's the difference? It's apparent to us that toxic burn-barrel smoke, laden with chemicals and toxics, is a heckuva lot more dangerous than from a charge of wood in an outdoor furnace.

And since most municipalities don't have laws against open burning, it's up to the private citizen to stick his or her neck out to file a complaint with the state Department of Environmental Conservation if he or she want a specific situation remedied.

If a contractor is burning construction debris at a house-building site that spews hot ash and smoke over a residential area, damaging motor vehicles and homes, or a neighborhood firebug is torching his garbage with potential recycling components like plastic bottles and containers, creating an acute hazard for his or her neighbors with health issues, you — John or Joan Q. Citizen — must call the DEC in Ray Brook and file a complaint against the burner.

And if that's not enough, you also must be willing to sign an Air Quality Complaint in order for the law-enforcement arm of DEC to visit the site of the fire to cite the person doing the burning. Many might be unwilling to do that in order to keep peace in the neighborhood.

But if you want the burning to stop, you've got to step up. Seems there should be an easier way to solve the problem, doesn't it?