Posted by travlr423 (anonymous) on February 3, 2009 at 1:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)

with all due respect to your opinion, why should honest people be taxed for ignorance, i never throw anything from my vehicle. that's why the cab of my truck looks like a landfill most of the time. and why just fast food, i live along a state highway and i have more beer cans and beer bottles and empty cigarette packs than food containers, so why not just tax everything. and better than that since we have no way of knowing who the culprit of these trashy deeds are why not tax every registered citizen of the county,or maybe just add it to our property tax. some how none of these suggestions seem to be an answer to the problem and they all just increase the burden of the innocent. my suggestion would be that the county look at some of the worst areas and maybe put some kind of hidden camera like the ones hunters put out in the woods to film wild game with and get a description of who it is and make them do 6months of weekend community service clean up plus minimum 500.00 fine .

Posted by TheDude (Michael Wells) on February 3, 2009 at 7:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Yeah kw, get the city, county, state, whomever, to post "No Littering" signs in your neighborhood (with $500 fine). They work real well on CR410, just like the 30 mph speed limit signs. If it weren't for a select few residents that pick up trash on CR410 about every day, it would look like the Thorsby landfill around here. What makes it real bad is the risk of getting hit while picking up trash, by idiots cutting through CR410 traveling up to around 60 mph (if not more).

Posted by November162000 (anonymous) on February 3, 2009 at 8:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I'm with you in principle on this, however, I'm afraid that a tax would make the problem worse. If someone is sorry enough to throw trash out in the first place, I'm afraid they would be encouraged to throw it out thinking that since they are paying for the cleanup anyway why not just throw it out.

You are right that our county is trashier than many, but it goes along with the general mentality, or lack thereof, that many folks around here have. People that throw trash out the window or let it blow out of the back of their pickup truck are just plain trashy people, in more ways than one. To anyone that this applies to that may be offended by the truth, I hate it for you. EIther get over it or change your ways. And by the way, throwing cigarette butts out qualifies you as a trashy person the same as throwing a McDonald's bag out.

Posted by getbizi (anonymous) on February 3, 2009 at 9:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Steven, I cant believe that once again we have bipartisan agreement on an issue and we are "reaching across the aisle". You cant get anymore "redneck" than throwing garbage into someone elses yard. I dont know if I like anymore additional taxes.

Posted by getbizi (anonymous) on February 3, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)

What ever happened to the chain-gangs picking up trash on the side of the road? I very rarely seem them anymore. We have a large labor pool available and they dont seem to be utilized. I think hard time should mean hard labor from sun up to sun down!!

Posted by NoSugar (anonymous) on February 3, 2009 at 12:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Prisoners have been used to clean up the county. The problem with that is the lack of funding for supervisors for such clean up efforts.Which brings us back to KWs tax idea........I do not see how families afford to eat out several times a day or week, the cost is almost triple for what it costs to prepare a meal at home.

Posted by donnymhayes (anonymous) on February 3, 2009 at 12:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Taxes are never the answer. We're already heading toward a communist/socialist state at a high rate of speed...do we have to add to that with additonal local socialist programs. I for one find the thousands upon thousands of political signs littering our highways much worse than some litter in the grass. Lets charge politicians 10 cents per sign. That would never happen because they are self serving. But I bet they'll line up behind this idea, of course 9.9 cents of it will go to a general fund that they can use anyway they wish..and I promise you, your section of road doesn't matter a bit to our political leaders. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Posted by eagle1 (anonymous) on February 3, 2009 at 2:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Most of the time, the trash that is chunked out of vehicles lands on the county "right of way" (if you're on a county road), which connects to your yard. The county sure ain't going to pick up the trash, so the residents end up policing the "right of ways" for the county. THEREFORE, I think the tax collector should forfeit our property taxes for keeping the "right of ways" free of trash.

Posted by travlr423 (anonymous) on February 4, 2009 at 2:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)

this sounds more like a vendetta against the fast food industry, than a clean-up resolution. but who knows you may be right. one things for sure if them whopper Jr's. go up to 1.10 ill just have to start eating at home.

Posted by southernpride (anonymous) on February 5, 2009 at 8:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)

As usual someone puts forth an idea to benefit society, albeit not a perfect one, and people ocme out of the woodwork bashing it. However, they never seem to come up with a better one!

I hate axes and government as much as anyone, but I also hate seeing trash all over the place.

My only suggestion would be is to have the police make an active effort to catch people littering and ticket them. I know, can't be done for some reason. But in other states such as Texas, a big effort is made to catch people littering and htey are heavily fined. this could be why their state is clean for t he most part.

I do agree the menatility of people that routinely litter is pitiful, but so is a lot of peoples mentality in this county.

but I suppose this is no different from most other places.

Posted by Care4GodsEarth (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 7:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I don't think we should use convict labor because that gives folks the idea that someone else is responsible for the mess they make.

People sometimes need a reminder that they don't need to be doing something, whether it's speeding or littering, both are laws that should be upheld.

Chilton county is too beautiful to be treated like a giant garbage dump. We have so many reasons to be proud and thankful.

Posted by donnymhayes (anonymous) on February 11, 2009 at 8:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)

KW, by suggesting taxing political signs I was simply pointing out the fallacy of your own suggestion, that is relying on the govt and our politicians to fix this issue. I'd love to see you get this done and have a clean and neat county landscape but your entire proposal hinges on having the taxes earmarked for cleanup only, and I just do not see that happening. As I said, if this tax was enacted, you might, if lucky, see 1/10th of it put towards cleanup, the rest would go into some general slush fund with zero accountability tied to it. If you don't believe it, look at the bloated, pork barrel 'stimulus' package about to be approved by our Congress. Look at the mess in Jefferson county with the sewer system, the list goes on and on where govt is involved. We've removed any semblance of personal responsibility in our society, removed God from schools and expect the government to fix all of our problems. Knowing these things, I'm not surprised at all that some folks think throwing trash out the window is acceptable behavior. I wish you the best of luck with your endeavor. Run for commissioner or state rep...I'd vote for a new name and a new idea over what we've got any day!