IT IS GOOD NEWS that the state is willing to help with the cost of cleaning up after illegal dumpers in Lyon County. The bad news is that cleaning up the mess left by scofflaws will still be expensive, whether the work is done by county employees or by contractors.
Cleanup is necessary, but it is not the problem. The problem is the dumping. The less dumping there is, the less the county must spend to clean up.
Perhaps a good place to start would be a concerted effort to identify dumpers and make them pay for cleanup. Granted, someone who decides to dump a couple of thousand pounds of construction waste along a county road is not likely to leave a business card or a driver’s license behind. But a little detective work on some of the trash piles might turn up other clues to the dumpers’ identities.
A few days of investigation by the sheriff’s department (sorry, folks) could result in one or two solid cases. Hitting a couple of dumpers with fines — and making a to-do about it — could do a lot toward discouraging dumping by others.
Failing to make a serious attempt to stop the dumping will just commit the county to a growing expense in years to come.
Wasp (anonymous) says...
I heard a neighbor reported that he had a trailer house stolen that his family likes to go camping in. The sheriff called and told him where it was. He went to pick it up and found Meth paraphanalia all around it. He called them back and asked if they had already processed the scene. They had not and would not. What makes you think they will actually try to catch the illegal dumpers?
April 16, 2007 at 11:10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )