I Feel Ya

This is one of my pet peeves. Though I haven't been as proactive as the couple below. I feel exactly as this couple does when it comes to cleanliness. Read not only what they are saying, but what they are doing.




Outraged Ingrams Mill couple got tired of the litter ad not only wand got busy
Thomas Busler/The CommercialAppeal

Dot and Curtis Taylor have adopted Cathey Road in southeast DeSoto County to keep clean. They pick up litter near the Marshall County line.



By Wayne Risher
Contact
March 15, 2007
Long before roadside litter became a hot topic in DeSoto County, a retired Ingrams Mill couple took matters into their own latex-gloved hands.
Curtis and Dot Taylor started picking up litter on their rural road because of pride, plain and simple.


The native DeSoto Countians wanted it looking good when friends from out of state came South to visit.
"It's embarrassing to have people come visit you and see the mess," Dot said.

They built a log cabin on her family's land in 1999. They found the litter appalling and in stark contrast to places they lived in Pennsylvania and Virginia during his career as an over-the-road truck driver.

The Taylors began picking up litter on the quarter mile of Cathey Road between their driveway and Red Banks Road. "That quarter mile looked like a dump," said Curtis, who is originally from Olive Branch.

Soon they were policing three miles ending at the Marshall County line.

The Taylors are one of five participants in a county Adopt-A-Road program that helps citizens, businesses and organizations get involved in beautifying the county.

Between the county, Olive Branch and Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT), there are 23 active road adoption efforts in DeSoto. County government has assisted with programs in Hernando and Horn Lake. MDOT's Adopt-A-Highway America program also has three groups in Tate County.

Boosting citizen participation is one of several ideas being batted around by DeSoto supervisors to deal with litter.

Supervisors also talked about hiring a full-time litter pickup crew, seeking a special law to allow the county to pay volunteer road adopters and increasing litter pickups by prisoners.

After supervisors complained about horrible littering along U.S. 61 in mid-February, MDOT's crews have made a dent there and elsewhere.

Courtney Blair, anti-litter coordinator for 17 North Mississippi counties, said, "We do have crews up there that are picking up the litter on 61, (U.S.) 78 and (I-) 55. We are making efforts to get it cleaned up, but it's a continuing cycle."

MDOT's Blair visits schools to talk to children about litter. "Basically we just try to educate the children and reinforce in them not to litter. I always ask them to talk to their parents."

The supervisors' alarm struck a chord with Southaven resident Carla Paradine, who resolved to start picking up litter along State Line Road on daily walks with her dog.

"Coming here from Oregon, if you threw something out of a car, people would either yell at you or go behind you and pick it up," Paradine said. "It's amazing to me the disrespect people have not only for property but for Mother Earth."

Southaven uses a contractor to sweep streets and clean rights-of-way, director of operations Bradley Wallace said. He said if citizens want an Adopt-A-Street program, they could approach the Board of Aldermen.

Adopt-a-road programs typically want participating groups to conduct at least four cleanups a year. Governments supply garbage bags, equipment and safety vests and require participants to release the government from legal liability. Road signs give credit to adopters.

Curtis and Dot Taylor clean up Cathey Road quarterly and the segment between their home and Red Banks Road monthly.

They leave his pickup at Macedonia Baptist Church on the Marshall County line and walk west, grabbing everything within 15-20 feet of the road.

He pulls hand trucks bearing a 55-gallon drum lined with a garbage bag. She totes a 5-gallon bucket. With long-armed mechanical claws, they snare cans, bottles and assorted trash.

It takes a couple hours to make their way home. Dot drives Curtis back to his pickup, which he uses to collect the filled bags they left behind.

Much of what they find can be traced to convenience stores and fast-food restaurants: beer cans and bottles, fast food bags and packaging. Curtis believes governments should levy a nickel or so fee on such purchases to pay for litter cleanup.

Curtis admitted it's an uphill battle in the rural South. "It's a different attitude. People are just used to throwing stuff out the window."

Before visitors arrive at the Taylors' meticulously kept 38-acre spread, they're greeted by a sign announcing who's responsible for this cleaner-than-average DeSoto County road.

It's a retired truck driver and his wife: parents of three children, grandparents of six, and adoptive parents of a ribbon of blacktop winding through kudzu-covered hills and piney woods -- downright picturesque when it's litter free.

-- Wayne Risher: (662) 996-1421

LITTER PROGRAMS

DeSoto County Adopt-A-Road

Contact: Department of Road Management, (662) 429-1466

Adopters:

Starbucks and M.R. Dye Public Library, Nail Road.
Southern Cross Motorcycle Club, Holly Springs Road.
Curtis and Dot Taylor, Cathey Road.
Second Baptist Church Sunday School, Oak Grove Road.
Exchange Club of Hernando, Byhalia Road,

Olive Branch Adopt-A-Street

Contact: Pamela Martin, (662) 892-9375

Adopters:

Christina G. Russell and G. Daryn Russell, Goodman Road at Autumn Oaks Drive and Goodman at Pleasant Hill Road.
Alderman Rick Dlugach, College Road.
Dr. S. Jeff Moore DDS, Miss. 305 (Cockrum Street) at B. J. Chain Public Library.
Bob Marr, Goodman Road and Pigeon Roost.
Eastover Neighborhood Association, Craft Road.
Olive Branch Catfish Co., Miss. 178.
Boy Scout Troop 155, Old Highway 78.
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, Davidson Road.
Aubrey Coleman, New Craft Road.
Roy and Jane Coln, College Road.
Maples Memorial United Methodist Church, Old Goodman.
First Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Germantown Road.

Mississippi Department of Transportation Adopt-A-Highway America

Contact: Courtney Blair, (662) 563-4541

Adopters:

Eastover Neighborhood Association, Miss. 302 (Goodman Road).
Pendergrast Family, Miss. 302.
Old Navy No. 6135, Miss. 302
Schnuck's, Miss. 302.
Memphis RiverKings, U.S. 51.
Mid-South Shepherd Rescue, U.S. 51.

Tate County:

Friends and Family of Danny Whittle, Miss. 4.
Northwest Mississippi Community College Environmental Science Organization, Miss. 4.
Citizens for a Cleaner Community, Miss. 4.