Public Mess – By Tommy Purser – Jeff Davis Ledger

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the mess that’s plaguing Tallahassee Missionary Baptist Church. If you don’t remember, churchgoers there are forced to dump unsightly and potentially hazardous trash around their church. A group of church members recently attended a county commission meeting to ask for some relief. But not much has been done.
While there is little the commissioners can do about it, they can certainly take steps to prevent more ugly and unsafe dumps from happening in the future.
While reading The True Citizen, a weekly newspaper that covers Burke County in eastern Georgia, I read with interest about the plans the commissioners there have to address such problems.
Proposed changes to a county ordinance would “prohibit the storage of trash, garbage, litter, garbage and/or waste, including old vehicles, on private property and public roads.”
Individuals who violate the solid waste ordinance have 15 days to develop a corrective action plan and are responsible for cleanup. Failure to do so can result in a fine of up to $1,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 60 days.
For decades I have lamented the fact that our commission has no county-wide zoning ordinances or local building codes. The county has no land use ordinance to provide for orderly growth. Anyone can create growth problems and there is no one to stop such activities.
If someone puts a chicken coop, a pigsty, or a garbage dump next to the commissioners’ homes, maybe they’ll wake up, smell the trouble, and do something about it.
We will see.