Terri Hedrick, chairperson of the Vance County Appearance Commission, was on Wednesday’s edition of WIZS’ Town Talk program to discuss the widespread issue of trash and litter on Vance County roadways.

Recent social media postings have indicated that local residents are concerned about the amount of litter on their personal property as well as throughout the community.

Hedrick agreed, “The trash is really bad; it may be the worst we have seen in quite some time. It seems there is not a road that is not affected in Vance County.”

According to Hedrick, part of the appearance problem is due to the time of the year – trash is more visible in the winter when plant growth is down.

Roadside litter is also accumulating in record numbers due, in part, to funding ended by the State Legislature approximately two years ago. “One of the issues, without a doubt, is that prison crews are no longer able to go out and clean up roadsides,” explained Hedrick.

Hedrick said Vance County and the State DOT have been able to contract with work crews to clean up some of the major roadsides since funding was cut, but the problem “is too severe for just a few work crews a few times a year.”

The bigger issue, one much harder to solve, is how to instill community pride in people so they will not litter or illegally dump on other people’s property. “It has to begin with people not littering out of their cars. This is really a community pride issue,” said Hedrick.

While Hedrick admits it is very difficult for law enforcement to catch those who litter due to the quickness and frequency of the act, she is hopeful that the Appearance Commission will have success in appealing to the County for the hiring of either a full-time or part-time position to address the issue.

“The Appearance Commission is appealing to the County Manager and the Vance County Board of Commissioners to try again to employ a person whose job it is to investigate illegal dumping and littering issues,” Hedrick said. “We are asking the County to try to get it into the budget for the next [fiscal] year.”

Hedrick further explained that the Vance County Sheriff’s Department previously employed a deputy for such investigations, but the position was never filled upon the deputy’s retirement.

Other steps the commission has taken to address littering include talking to County officials on the possibility of using inmates in the county jail and/or using residents assigned community service for committing misdemeanor crimes to clean up roadways.

Both solutions, according to Hedrick, would require a certain amount of funding and sorting out the logistics of paperwork and supervision.

“There are no easy answers. Every county has this issue and it’s going to take all of us working together to deal with the huge problem that we have here,” Hedrick said.

To hear the Town Talk interview with Terri Hedrick in its entirety, please click here.