Troup County Commissioner Ken Smith was visibly angry Thursday about the amount of trash that gets dumped along roadsides in the unincorporated area.

“It’s embarrassing to have the dirty, ugly roadsides that we have,” Smith told fellow commissioners at a work session while advocating much stiffer penalties for illegal dumping.

On Monday, Smith notified county code enforcement officer Jim McLaughlin when he saw a pile of trash on Willie Hodnett Road. McLaughlin cited the person whose name he found in the trash.

“No individual ought to have to put on gloves and go through crap like this maggot-infested garbage, and it goes on and on,” Smith said.

McLaughlin said isolated roads get dumped on quite a bit, including West Hopson, Ware, Melson and Martha roads. Names in the garbage are often people who live outside the county, he said.

The fine used to be $150, but now it’s been increased to $375, although the magistrate judge has authority to go up to $1,000.

Smith said he will dedicate his remaining 3 1/2 years in office “to punishing these people any way I can. The fines need to be increased” to the maximum, he said, “enough to buy cameras so we can get pictures of people dumping” and enough to put their photos in the newspaper.

“Let them put on an outfit and paint the roll-offs (containers at convenience centers) and get Crime Stoppers to pay a reward,” he said.

Commissioners Morris Jones said “there’s got to be some answers to stop this. It’s happening on a more regular basis than in past years.”

Smith said he didn’t want the situation to be an excuse for the county to start residential garbage pickup.

“I wasn’t going there,” Commission Chairman Ricky Wolfe replied.

Wolfe asked county attorney Jerry Willis to find the county in Georgia with the most stringent penalties for illegal dumping.

Wolfe said the court system needs to get the message that “we’re extremely serious about this issue and … something has to be done about it.”

Smith suggested the county write a letter asking for local legislation in the General Assembly that would authorize putting offenders’ photos in the newspaper, just like repeat DUI offenders. A vote on the issue was scheduled for Tuesday’s regular board meeting.

In other matters Thursday, the county’s 911 Emergency Communications Center is scheduled to move into the basement of the Government Center on Jan. 5. The move’s estimated $1.7 million cost will be financed by the special sales tax that also was used to build the Government Center.

The cost includes $950,000 for new equipment, including GIS mapping that will allow 911 dispatchers to pinpoint the location of cell phone callers within 500 feet if they hang up without giving an address.

“So many calls we get are cell phone calls,” Noles said. “People are getting away from wired phones, especially with the economy.”

The 911 center, established in 1987, currently is housed in an underground nuclear bomb shelter on Vernon Street that was donated by the former C&S Bank.

“It’s kind of drab down here,” Noles said, and the building has humidity problems and a “mildew, moldy smell.”

Wolfe said, “It’s remarkable how well you do under very tough working conditions.”

Dobbs said RBC Centura Bank and First United Methodist Church have expressed an interest in the former bomb shelter. The county can always use it for storage, he said.

Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@ lagrangenews. com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.