If everyone would pick up their trash picker or frog gigger,Lincoln County could be a more beautiful place.

Crystal Larimore and her sister Libby Young have seen it asalmost their duty and privilege to clean up the side of Hog ChainRoad as long as they can remember.

When Young came to visit recently from Tupelo, the two sistersgot back out on the road with their frog gigging stick and trashpicker to once again beautify their own neighborhood.

“We can’t do it every day, and my mom actually helps me most ofthe time,” Larimore said. “It’s just to keep things clean really,because when all the trash is all over the side of the road, it’ssuch an eyesore.”

The girls said they learned the need to keep their neighborhoodbright and beautiful when they were growing up from their latestepfather, Roland Day, a game warden. Day made yard work anactivity not only enjoyed by family but also friends.

“He instilled in us to keep everything nice and clean, and he’sprobably the reason we do this,” said Larimore. “When we weregrowing up and boyfriends or friends would come over, he would putus in a line and give us all a rake. It was a mess.”

When the weather permits, the family can make it all the way toSydney Trail, they said, and about as far in the other directionfrom their houses at 466 and 469 Hog Chain Road. Larimore said thecool weather in the winter makes it easier to cover largerdistances.

But whenever it is, it’s always shocking how much litter cancollect on the roadway. Larimore guessed that sometimes it’sbecause of the trash that scatters when the garbage collector comesthrough.

“It’s crazy how quickly our bags fill up,” she said. “Sometimesthe garbage people when they come through, they know how to make amess, and a lot of times that adds to the problem.”

Larimore said things seemed to get worse when the family put agarbage bin out by the road.

“It got bad when we put our bin out there, it seemed like peoplewould go by and use it as a basketball goal,” she said, adding thatmost of them were not very good shots.

And it’s not all work, Larimore said. When the rewards of havinga clean neighborhood and doing a good deed for the world areweighed in, it’s not a bad deal, she said.

“I don’t mind doing it, because it gets me outside, though ifit’s too hot you can only do so much,” she said. “And I’ve got twokids, and getting away from them is tricky.”

Sometimes the trek up and down Hog Chain can be an interestingand profitable deal.

Larimore said it would shock most people what kinds of trashpeople will throw out of a moving car. Though there are times thatit seems obvious that they might have actually stopped the car, shesaid.

“I’ve found $5, but I’ve also found buckets of oil,” she said.”It looked like someone changed their oil and left the bucketsthere.”

The cleanup is not always just for beautification, either.

“There are beer cans and bottles on the side of the road, and Idon’t think it’s a good idea to leave broken bottles on the side ofthe road, because there are people who ride their horses throughhere,” she said. “Those horses don’t need to step on thatglass.”

And it doesn’t seem that Larimore and her family are alone intheir endeavors. She said sometimes she can see where her neighborshave chipped in to keep the neighborhood aesthetically pleasing aswell.

“I know they pick theirs up too, and I know everyone in the areaappreciates it,” she said.