This month, the Mississippi Department of Transportation gave work trailers to two sheriff’s departments to support the crusade against litter in Mississippi.
The Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department and Jones County Sheriff’s Department were both presented with trailers by representatives with MDOT and Keep Mississippi Beautiful at the District Six headquarters in Hattiesburg on July 1, a MDOT release states.
According to www.keepmsbeautiful.com, Keep Mississippi Beautiful encourages residents to recycle and beautify their communities by providing resources to 34 affiliates in the state.
“Both of these law enforcement agencies have demonstrated tremendous support for the litter removal program,” Southern Transportation Commissioner Tom King said in the release. “We’re pleased MDOT can provide this equipment so that crews can pick up more trash each week from area highways.”
According to the release, both departments have crews working on a weekly basis picking up litter from highways.
Pearl River County Sheriff David Allison said there are three litter crews made up of about four inmates and one county employee that clean county, state and federal roadways.
However, due to a low inmate count this year, there are currently two inmates per crew, Allison said.
The crews work Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., Allison said. One crew, paid by the county, cleans up litter on county roads. The other two crews pick up litter on state and federal roads. The inmates are paid an hourly rate and based on the miles worked, which the state refunds, Allison said.
The new trailer will be assigned to the crew most in need after the tag arrives, Allison said.
“I would like to thank MDOT and Tom King for giving us this trailer and for thinking of us,” Allison said. “I would like to ask residents to be more responsible and not throw their litter on the roadways. Our tax dollars are being wasted picking up behind people. Both cities and county are looking for industry. They don’t want to bring their business to a dirty county. Let’s help keep the county clean.”
For more information about MDOT and Keep Mississippi Beautiful, visit www.mdot.ms.gov and www.keepmsbeautiful.com.