Dear Editor,

The weekend edition of the LaGrange Daily News printed a letter to the editor from Jerry Johnson entitled “Trash on our roadways.”

Mr. Johnson has also posted this same letter on Facebook. I want to thank Mr. Johnson for his position on trash on the roadways of our county!

But, I would ask that our citizens refrain from calling 911 when they see someone throwing trash out.

Troup 911 is for emergency purposes.

Unfortunately, the sheriff’s department nor the police departments have the time nor the manpower to stop littering.

Troup County will continue to have trash problems until the community cares about where they live.

According to a Facebook post, a local commissioner says, “trash pick up in the county is the responsibility of the sheriff’s office, inside the city it’s the police department, and the mayor says Keep Troup Beautiful is in charge of trash pick-up. What the heck???”

This is not quite accurate. The county and the cities have code enforcement officers who can assist in “policing” our trash problems.

And, our citizens can help by taking down a tag number when they see an offender. Then, rather than calling 911 as suggested, call crime stoppers or code enforcement with the information.

As for Keep Troup Beautiful, while we’re not “in charge of trash pick-up,” we can assist in supporting groups who wish to volunteer time to pick up trash.

With limited resources, our governments will assist in picking up roadside trash, but, I personally hate to see my tax dollars going toward trash pick-up. I’d rather see us work toward a cleaner Troup County by taking personal responsibility.

And, I would ask that Mr. Johnson modify his pledge a bit to say, “I am pledging if I see someone throwing trash out, I will call crime stoppers or code enforcement and give them the tag number.

I am asking all the people that love our city [and county] to do their part in calling crime stoppers or code enforcement. Is that a deal?

Then shake on it and let’s do it.”

Scott Landa

Executive Director,

Keep Troup Beautiful