Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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March 18, 2010

Mercer officials join forces to fight litter

By Bill Archer Bluefield Daily Telegraph

PRINCETON —  Even before the snow melt, Jay Mills, a member of the Mercer County Commission, was working to organize a countywide cleanup day, but when the snow-cover melted and a hard rain clogged county rivers and streams with tons of debris, people concerned about Mercer County’s litter problem had an even greater motive to take action.

“We moved here from Florida three years ago, and my children had never seen roadside litter before,” Kelly Colonna, Matoaka town manager said. “West Virginia is a beautiful state — a tourist destination. You don’t want people to see all that trash.”

“Our governor, Joe Manchin, is committed to addressing the litter problem throughout the state,” Christine West said. West is based in Mercer County and serves as executive assistant of the West Virginia Department of Transportation. “Gov. Manchin backs the ‘Make It Shine’ program.”

Rick Delp, “Adopt a Highway” director for District 10, West Virginia Department of Highways said it is vital for county residents to learn the steps they need to take in order to report illegal dumps, and follow the proper reporting procedure. He said that Sam Stalnaker, project manager of the Department of Environmental Protection’s Pollution Prevention and Open Dump Program at (304) 389-8182 is the contact person for open dumps in the 13-county region of southern West Virginia.

“You’ve got to go through the chain of command,” Delp said. Delp is the District 10 “Adopt a Highway” program contact person at (304) 487-5221; and he said that Mike Mc Millan, the county administrator is the contact person for junk car removal. “Report cars or anything on the state road right-of-way to him at (304) 487-5281,” Delp said. “We know it takes time to go through the chain of command, but that’s the best way.”

Mercer County Sheriff Don Meadows said it took some time for his deputies to develop the best way to use the new litter law the Mercer County Commission passed. “We were getting better results, and we were doing pretty good until Dec. 17, and that snow put a stop to it,” Meadows said. “You’re seeing the results now.

“So many people think it’s easy, but it’s not,” Meadows said. “Back in the late ‘80s, we had the jail and could use inmates to pick up trash. We picked up more than three million tons of trash back then, but we can’t do that now because we don’t have the jail.” Meadows said that he is doing the best he can with his current staffing shortage. “I’ll give a deputy two days a week to enforce the litter laws, but we get calls reporting illegal dumps every day.”

Delp said that the state’s “Make it Shine” day is April 10, and added that the East River Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited will be doing a stream cleanup project on that day in the Oakvale area.

“We really need to get the message across to young students when they enter school, and to have teachers reinforce that idea every year,” Mills said.

“We need to work with parents too,” Delp added.

The group discussed participation during the state’s two-week cleanup period coming up in April.

– Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com

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