Litter in Noxubee County
I have preached about the ill effects of litter in the Macon Beacon many times. Nobody seems to care, at least those who are littering. I can pick all the litter in my yard and the next morning there will be more, mainly empty beer bottles and cans with some soda containers thrown in for good measure.
It’s possible the reason litterers don’t care is they don’t want industries to locate here and provide more jobs. Why? As long as people can draw “entitlements without having to work, where’s the incentive to work?
If schools would teach the importance of not littering, starting with kindergarten through the 12th grade, some young people might start to put litter in its proper place. I have seen obese young children walking down the street in Brooksville eating a bag of chips. When it’s empty, they just toss it on the side of the street or in somebody’s yard and walk merrily on their way.
Somebody with more clout than I have needs to address this problem and maybe, someday, we will have a state free of litter. We have to raise the quality of residents here if this problem is to ever be solved.
Without being racist, I will note that most, if not all, of the litter problem in Noxubee County is due to blacks throwing litter out of their car windows. This county is predominantly black and most of the few whites were brought up to not litter. I think it may be due to a form of “payback” by blacks since they no longer fear the laws, including the ones against littering.
Crawford, just across the county line, is all but dead, no business and few residents but plenty of litter. Brooksville is close on Crawford’s heels.
Shuqualak, at least, has the lumber industry to keep the tax base from going completely empty. Macon isn’t much better off. As you noted in your piece, litter is a definite turn-off to new businesses. Until peer pressure kicks in, people will continue to throw trash on the roads or ditches.
There is a storm sewer in front of my house with a big hole blown in it from water pressure after heavy rains. Twice, I’ve picked used condoms in my front yard that washed up out of that storm sewer after heavy rains. Complaining to the mayor has done no good so far.
Until people stop acting like uncivilized savages, there will continue to be trash on the streets and highways of Mississippi.
Crime seems to be increasing in our little neck of the woods. Parents need to understand that children are like gardens: tend them and you will grow good fruit; neglect them and weeds take over. I’m tired of people thinking there’s a racist reason why our prisons are so full of young people of color when their parents often don’t seem to care what young black men are doing. Let one get arrested or killed during the commission of a crime and it’s “He was such a good boy.”
You’re busy and this is getting too long. Take care.
Cameron Triplett
Brooksville
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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