Crawford residents upset about trash along neighborhood road

ROBERTA, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Several Crawford County residents are frustrated about the piles of trash building up along one of the roads in their neighborhood. 

Both residents and county leaders say it’s hard to catch the culprits, and until they do, the county will have to clear the roads. 

“There’s no reason people should be throwing beer cans, beer bottles, and pop cans out their windows,” county manager Pat Kelly said. 

If you look hard enough along Boy Scout Road you’ll find that and a whole lot more: old trash cans, cigarette cartons, crumpled paper, even roof shingles and siding. 

A majority of the litter is near Jeanette Shea’s house. She says it’s a constant problem. 

“I’ve seen a mattress thrown out, but we’ve just never caught them doing it,” Shea said. 

Kelly is just as frustrated. 

“It’s difficult to pick up litter over 350 miles of roadway. It’s just an impossible task for us,” Kelly said. 

After a resident complained about the amount of trash, county leaders had to check it out for themselves. 

Because of the cups and cans and everything else that’s lining the streets out here in Crawford County, the county attorney sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Division saying that the county will do everything in its power to make sure these roads are cleaned up including putting in new signs.

Violators will face $100 if they’re caught. Kelly says that’s half the battle. 

“But we really need help from folks. If they see something going on, a dump truck backing into a ravine dropping shingles. Make a phone call, call our police department. Call my office,” Kelly said. 

Shea thinks they should pay more.

“I’d like to make them pay a $1,000 fine and maybe they wouldn’t do it so much,” she said. 

A filthy issue the county doesn’t want to waste any time clearing up.

“If we can find a piece of evidence to link somebody to this, we’re going to go after them. We’re going to try to make an example out of them,” Kelly said. 

The county is considering bidding out the clean up effort, but Kelly says in all likelihood, they’ll be the ones to clean up the project over the next two months. 

He and commissioners are also asking for the sheriff’s office to increase their patrols to keep and eye out for litterers.