Someone’s trash is costing the county more taxpayer money to clean up the damage it has caused.
People randomly dumping large loads of trash has become an issue throughout the county. Residents on county roads in the rural areas of the county frequently complain about random furniture and large loads of garbage being randomly thrown out on the side of the road.
Along with the issue of completely disrespecting the land and residents that live near the dumping areas, it has also caused some major damage to roadways.
County Road 370 is the perfect example of how much damage can be caused, and the county is now going to have to spend more money to repair something that could have been prevented.
“We just put new culverts there on County Road 370 about a year ago,” explained Supervisor Joel Speed. “I went out there to check on that area when I knew we were going to have a lot of rain coming in, and the culvert was completely stopped up. The water was backing up into a man’s yard, and I was scared the water was going to get into his house. I called our crews out there so we could find what the problem was. The end where the water was going in was good, but there was nothing coming out of the other end. The only choice we had was to dig and find what was stopping it up. We started digging under there to get it unclogged and found out that what had clogged it was a full-size residential refrigerator. There was so much pressure behind it from the water that had built up that it shot out about 30 feet.”
They are now having to repair that culvert and area of road again.
In order to prevent further damage to the roads, bridges, and culverts and take more pride in keeping the county clean, it is important to stop throwing trash out on the roads.
Instead, the community is reminded that the landfill accepts trash for free on Saturdays. They simply have to pull up to the office, and they will be directed where to go to dump the different items they have.
If anyone knows someone who is dumping trash on the side of the roads, they are encouraged to contact their supervisor or the sheriff’s department to provide that information so that a public official can have a conversation with the person and hopefully prevent it from happening again.
This large problem has a simple solution: don’t be trashy.
