CLEAN UP LITTER
County leaders, employees take to the streets to
As Rome and Floyd County prepare to celebrate Earth Day next Thursday, it’s stunning to ride the rural roads of the community and see how many people just toss their trash out onto the road.
More than a dozen Floyd County employees including County Manager Jamie Mccord to County Commissioner Allison Watters, Airport Manager John Carroll and County Police Chief Mark Wallace donned reflective vests and got into the ditches to pick up trash.
The group went along Nichols Road, Norton Road and Chulio Road in the Spring Creek area east of Rome.
“I am so thankful to have county employees who are willing to give up their time from their normal duties to come out and help beautify our community by picking up litter,” said Keep Rome-floyd Beautiful Director Emma Wells.
Floyd County Police Chief Mark Wallace said the frustrating part is that “probably in two days you won’t be able to tell we were out there.”
Wells bemoaned the fact that so many people just don’t care enough about how
the community looks and continue to toss trash from their vehicles.
Littering is a misdemeanor offense, generally handled through traffic court. Chief Wallace said it’s a difficult offense to catch because most motorists don’t throw trash out the window when there is a patrol car in the rear view mirror.
“If we find bags of trash that have been dumped our code enforcement officers will go through that garbage and find addresses,” Wallace said.
If they are able to find any kind of identifying information, then a citation is issued through the Magistrate Court.
The county crews picked up 900 pounds of litter Friday morning. Two-thirds of that was removed in large garbage bags while the remaining third consisted of bulk items, including a television set, the drum part of a washing machine, a chair and one tire that had been cut in half.
“Most of it was fast food, bottles and cans,” Wells said.