Let's put the trash where it belongs
By Staff
Jason Cannon, Franklin County Times
Over the past several weeks, Franklin County has put a lot of effort into cleaning up our roads.
Many times in the past 10 days or so, I have been driving back and forth through town and seen Civitan members in the median of the road, picking up garbage. The chamber of commerce recently held a trash collection day in which they picked up more than two tons of trash.
Yes, you read that right. They picked up more than two tons of trash in one day. The sad part is they could revisit that exact same stretch of highway today and pick up two more tons.
Litter is a countywide problem. It is by no means attractive but that's the least of our problems.
Litter is often blamed on certain segments of the community. Some of the most commonly blamed groups are customers who frequent fast food restaurants, smokers and young adults.
Recent studies have shown that areas which are allowed to remain dirty, actually become dirtier.
The remaining littler is like an invitation that says, "Drop your stuff here."
It's going to take concentrated efforts by all of Franklin County to get and keep our county clean. The county's litter control agent, the Russellville Police Department and inmates around the county can't do it all by themselves.
To fight litter, you don't even have to get out and pick any up – although that would be a big help.
All you have to do is not drop your waste on our roadsides.
Keep a plastic bag in your car and throw your trash in there.
Throw the bag away when you get home. I pick on my wife, Tiffany, because every time I wash her car I fill up a garbage can with all her old newspapers, empty Diet Mountain Dew cans and our daughter's candy wrappers.
But at least she's not throwing it out on the road.
Truck owners are also litter offenders and may not even realize it. When you throw or drop old cans, bag or wrappers in the back of your truck, they tend to blow out when you're driving. We all know that but we don't think about it when we toss it back there.
Again, lets put this stuff where it belongs: In the trash. There's no magic button to press that will pick up garbage. It's going to take a lot of work and sweat, but it doesn't do much good to pick it up when you need to go back and do it all over again the next day.
It's springtime, and what phrase is more familiar this time of year than 'spring cleaning?'
That doesn't only need to be for your home and closets. Help keep our county clean by not dirtying it up.
