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The City of LaGrange kicked off its 2021-2022 Leaving LaGrange Better Than We Found it Campaign with a cleanup at Jones Street Park.

And in cool, fall weather Saturday morning, there was a huge turnout. More than 60 people participated to pick up trash to make our community cleaner. Imagine that, people giving up their free time to pick up garbage left by someone else.

When the city — led by City Manager Meg Kelsey — started this initiative a few years ago, it was hard to know how well it would go.

Truthfully, it was hard to know how long it would continue too, as these types of initiatives usually start well with a lot of passion and then other things get in the way. Or the turnout isn’t good. Or the trash is there the next week and everyone gives up.

But that has not been the case in LaGrange, where Kelsey and other leaders are ensuring that it continues.

Litter is a topic that every single local council and the Troup County Commission have discussed, almost constantly, for years and years. Guess what? Every community does that. It’s a challenge everywhere, and we could talk until we’re blue in the face about why that’s the case. Do people just not care? We feel like most do.

Regardless, it’s a topic everywhere, and it’s not going anywhere.

That’s why we appreciate what the city of LaGrange is doing. It’d be easy to place the blame on people throwing trash our their windows or not having the resources to constantly pick up trash since it’s a recurring problem.

Instead the city is leading by example. City leaders are often out there picking up trash every month, showing others what should be done. If they can do it, we all can do it.

We at the LDN have participated in a cleanup before, and it was a good experience. Mayor Jim Thronton was out there that day, again leading by example.

We encourage everyone to take that initiative when it comes to litter in our community. It’s not hard to pick up trash you see on the sidewalk or around town when you are out and about.

We thank the city for continuing this initiative, and for pouring as much time and resources into it as they have. It’s another example of why LaGrange is such a great place to live.

At public meetings, or even around the water cooler at work, we all hear complaints. Of course, those complaints are usually followed up with that person saying “someone should do something about that.”

Well, the city of LaGrange isn’t saying that. It’s response has been “we should do something about that.”

Kudos to the city for keeping this going.