Neighbors here had to deal with one of these things for years. They live right on the corner of the paved county road and my dirt road. A young teen girl got fatally T-boned by a gravel truck while distracted, fighting with her mom on her cell phone. The memorial mess appeared in the ditch the next day. I sorta "get" drama queen fellow teens doing this for a while, or grieving parents and families, but really....having to look at that stuff, draw your dogs across the road, and deal with the blowing trash out your front windows for 10 damned years?
The neighbors talked to them repeatedly, removed the stuff when it showed up, and just, in the end, had to cope. It became such a part of the landscape that I literally can't tell you if it's still there or not.
Down the county road a way is another shrine - in the ditch of the highway - that's at least 20 years old. Last summer the whole intersection was completely rebuilt after a highway department makeover including added turning lanes, extensive landscaping/re-sculpturing/sodding and new 200 ft. wide right-of-ways/ditches. The garbage was back as soon as the contractors left. Some of them seem to never quit.
