To the Editor:

The Thomas County Public Works truck and trash crew were seen on Highway 19 this morning! But, it was only three individuals (one of whom was on his telephone as he ambled northbound, two of whom were in the median, clearly looking overwhelmed by the volume of trash that needed to go in their two kitchen-sized garbage bags) who constituted the entirety of the manpower confronting the hundreds of pounds of garbage along our roadway. I wanted to honk and wave and shout “Thank you!!” We thought maybe the northbound caller was requesting reinforcements and not just chatting up a friend? Think positively, right?!

My initial excitement disappeared when, just two hours later, we drove back and saw the three-man crew was long gone but the trash was not. It is incomprehensible to me how a county with the financial resources of Thomas County (property taxes in excess of $20 million according to 2023 numbers) cannot allocate to public works enough money to employ more than three people to have the garbage collected along Highway 19.

From Lower Boston Road to Route 84 the volume of discarded trash on both sides of the highway and in the median strip is indicative of more than just ignorant individuals tossing Whatta Burger bags out of their car windows as they finish their meals. This is hundreds of pounds of trash, some that has clearly blown out of trucks heading the to the dump and much of which looks like the trash collectors are just turning the receptacles over instead of unloading them into the garbage truck.

We know there are laws against littering. There are fines and I have in the past suggested community service (picking up the trash on the road where perpetrators are caught) to discourage and punish abusers. But, no improvement. No enforcement. No meaningful effort to abate.

Instead, one of the prettiest counties in the entire State of Georgia is the dirtiest.

– Catherine Davis Ledyard