BOGUE CHITTO — Lincoln County is making progress in the area ofimproving its appearance by controlling and reducing litter, andmore efforts are underway to help.

“We are seeing more and more neighborhoods and groups cleaningup their communities, and once they get them clean it seems todiscourage people from littering in that area,” said HomerRichardson, chairman of Keep Lincoln County Beautiful.

The organization is currently working with Lincoln Countysupervisors in an effort to keep areas clean and prevent litter indifferent problem areas in the county.

“We are going to put one Keep Lincoln County Beautiful sign inall five districts at the supervisor’s selected site,” said RonnieDurr, Lincoln County Solid Waste Litter Control Coordinator.

The large, yellow signs showing the organization’s logo areplaced at strategic areas to discourage littering on all highways,streets and byways.

“We want to impress a mindset on people not to throw trash out,”said Durr.

The signs were made by Charles Burke and Charley Evans, bothactive members of the organization, and funded by thesupervisors.

Results from the first sign, which was placed at theintersection of Heuck’s Retreat Road and Old Highway 51, have beengood. The organization hopes its second sign at the intersection ofBogue Chitto Road and Arlington Drive will be just asbeneficial.

“Hopefully, people from this area going to Brookhaven will seethe sign, and it will remind them not to litter,” added Durr.

Officials pointed out how easy it is for residents to keepLincoln County looking nice. They said a major difference would bemade if drivers and passengers in vehicles simply held their trash,such as fast food containers and drinks, in their vehicles untilthey reached a destination with a garbage container.

Garbage bags kept in vehicles are also helpful in preventingroadside litter, said Durr.

“During the Ole Brook Festival, we passed out 1,000 smallgarbage bags,” he said, adding that the majority of unsightlylitter appears along busy roadways where motorists toss trash whilepassing through.

Members of Keep Lincoln County Beautiful want residents todevelop pride in their communities, so the decision to throw trashout will be more difficult.

“We’re all in this together. This is a community effort thataffects all of Lincoln County,” said Durr.

The organization is trying to develop community pride early byimplementing educational programs in schools.

“The overall effort is expanding into the schools withcurriculum being taught to encourage children not to litter,” saidEvans.

The efforts have Keep Lincoln County Beautiful seem to have hada positive affect on the area, according to the results of a recentsurvey.

“We took 15 random samples in each of the beats, and we took 15in the city. We came in just above the slightly littered categoryon an average for the county,” said Richardson. “In general, it isan improvement over last year.”

Lincoln County received a 2.5 on the survey, which ranged fromone, which equals no litter, to four, or extremely littered.

Richardson said Keep Lincoln County Beautiful, which is anaffiliate of Keep America Beautiful, hopes to decrease that numbersignificantly in the next year by targeting problem areas.

“We were rather pleased with most areas, but we had a few placesthat need some improvement,” he said.

More information about Keep Lincoln County Beautiful can befound on The Daily Leader website under the community websiteslink.