Monday's Butler Eagle article on telephone books littering roadways in the county focused on a problem that should have been addressed years ago. It is not a new issue.

That the problem has persisted for a number of years proves that the telephone companies, as well as those in charge of delivering the books, haven't been ensuring that the main delivery guideline has been followed. That guideline is that the books are to be deposited on doorsteps — not along curbs, not in mud- and water-filled ditches, not along shrubbery, nor wherever else they've ended up other than where they should have been placed — at front doors.

Reasonable people would assume that the telephone companies would understand it in their and their advertisers' best interests that the directories get into customers' hands in the right way, and not become a source of anger and frustration.

But the people receiving the directories also must share in the blame for the unsightly situation that has evolved. The question must be asked why they've allowed the roadside mess to remain for days or weeks.

Is it really so difficult to bend down, pick up the directory and, if not wanted, throw it in a trash can? Apparently so, judging from the situation in some places.

Meanwhile, those who deliver the directories should be confining those deliveries to daylight hours, when it is more likely that the directories will be quickly seen. Some of the directories, this year at least, have been delivered at night.

And, in some apartment complexes, piles of the directories are left inside the door of buildings, without any attempt to ensure that a directory is received by each unit.

Oftentimes the piles — or parts of piles — remain untouched for weeks.

In fairness, it must be acknowledged that those who distribute the directories can't always know that a home is unoccupied, or how many units of an apartment complex might be vacant. However, the litter issue that has reared its ugly head again this year suggests a lack of commitment to distribute the directories in the proper way — on people's front porches or in front of their apartment doors.

That must change.

If companies hired to make the deliveries are, as they say they are, doing quality checks, they haven't directed enough focus on Butler County. And, if they truly expect professionalism on the part of the delivery people they hire, in many cases the delivery evaluators aren't doing their jobs either.

Some directory recipients are thinking that they didn't ask for the books and aren't accepting them. Other people probably believe that, having gotten one book, they don't need another and don't want to deal with subsequent, possibly duplicate, books.

Some people no doubt feel that, by not retrieving their books, they are making a statement about not wanting any more books.

Regardless, the bottom line is that thousands of directories are not being put to the use intended; they've become litter and are defacing the Butler County landscape.

Cleaning up the mess will require some effort by many people — including the companies that are responsible for it.