To the Editor:

Hello to all. January’s meeting was both exciting and a little discouraging. There was much discussion on how to get a real grip on Southampton County’s continuing litter problem. The fact that was brought up time and time again in the discussion was that an awful lot of folks just do not care and continue to litter. And not all of our litter-makers are people just traveling through.

We sadly came to the realization that the people who do not care probably cannot be made to care. We just do not have the manpower needed in our already busy law enforcement staff available to watch for and issue tickets, which probably would not work anyway.

Those who have no pride in their surroundings and their community and choose to litter and live the way they do, with no thought or care to others, just do not see anything wrong with what they do and will continue to soil our area with their selfish carelessness. This is a fact that is very hard to accept for the majority of us who do care. And for those of us who have pride in our surroundings and communities, it will fall upon us to clean up after the ones that do not care. This is unfair and discouraging, but probably the only solution to our litter problem.

We would like our caring citizens to get involved. Clean up your own community, organize or join programs and events to clean up some areas. The feeling that you get when you accomplish a clean-up project is so worth it.

We hope to reach our younger citizens with the enthusiastic way our schools approach instilling pride and teaching about not littering and recycling. Our youth is our hope that at some point in the future, there will no longer be any litter problem in Southampton County.

If you or someone you know, has not signed up for home recycling, please do so or encourage them to sign up. Help your town win the “Big Blue Bin Challenge.”

And now for the exciting part. The litter control committee will soon be on social media. This idea was proposed at the January meeting and all agreed this is a great idea. We are working on that and hope to be up and running soon. This will make everyone’s welcome ideas and input easier to share.

Please remember that the Litter Control Committee meets on the first Monday of every month in the Board Room at the Southampton County Administration Center at 5 p.m. All are welcome and we encourage you to participate.

Please, never think that your ideas will not make a difference. They do.

 

Joanne Hickman

Ivor