MATHISTON — The litter problem on Wood College Road (MS Highway 403) had gotten really out of hand. Fast-food containers, bottles and cans were strewn along the roadside.
Two residents had enough of it. Marianne Adams and Becky Wilkes are friends, former classmates and neighbors. They took matters into their own hands.
Armed with buckets, boots and trash bags, they began picking up trash along stretches of the road, a little at a time. When the bags were full, Evergreen Ag supplied them with more.
Within the course of an hour, three contractor bags were filled. And that was less than half a mile’s worth of work.
“Please help us keep our road looking beautiful for everyone,” Adams said. “It’s not just for those of us who live here, but for people who may be visiting or considering living here.”
They consider it a point of community pride.
“God has blessed Webster County with a beautiful countryside,” Wilkes said. “We just need to take better care of it.”
According to the Mississippi Department of Transportation, litter is a problem that costs over $3 million a year in cleanup efforts, along with untold dollars lost to tourism and economic development.
“Parents need to teach their children not to throw trash out of a vehicle,” Adams said. “A plastic trash bag inside the car can hold items until you get home to dispose of them properly.”
The two can’t do it alone, but they are making a noticeable impact.
“People generally keep the area in front of their home clean if they can see it,” Wilkes said. “If it’s pastureland or wooded, no one seems to consider it part of their yard. That’s where most of our work takes place.”
So far they have only worked outside the city limits, trusting that the town of Mathiston will provide cleanup service inside the city limits.
