Two hundred gallons of trash is a bit much

A few weeks ago I wrote a column lambasting some of our local citizenry for the shameful amount of garbage they have allowed to accumulate along our roadsides, especially in my scenic little neighborhood of Jeffersonton.

But to merely lambast in print about a problem without going out and actually doing something about it would only make me a whining, lazy, worthless, hypocritical, well...lambaster. So on a recent weekend I bought a box of 30-gallon, heavy-duty black garbage bags, put on my already dirty, stinky leather gloves, and took on the task of cleaning up the mess myself.

I walked along Jeffersonton Road, from the grandly historic Baptist church to where it becomes Myers Mill Road, a distance of exactly a mile and a half, bending, stretching, gathering and disposing of every bottle, bag, shred of soggy clothing, and piece of paper, plastic or cardboard that I could reach or safely touch without fear of contracting some disgusting disease.

It took me four hours to cover the relatively short distance, and I ended up stuffing 10 bags with both fresh and putrid filth. Just as I’d grab one bottle or fast food wrapper, I’d see two more buried nearby, much of it obviously hidden there for years under mud and brush and fallen leaves. I did have two nice people stop and thank me for my efforts, but other than that I was completely on my own as I got scratched and stuck by stickers and thorns, and poked in my eyes by protruding branches and brambles.

Because they became heavy with glass, I could only fill each bag to about two-thirds of capacity, but by multiplying ten 30-gallon bags by 2/3, I calculate that I collected about 200 gallons of garbage during my back-breaking, sweat-inducing endeavor.

Two hundred gallons in a mile-and-a-half! And that’s just a drop in the bucket of the total tonnage of trash despoiling this county’s roadsides with no plan in evidence to ever clean it up.

But at least a short, tranquil stretch along very pretty Jeffersonton Road is finally primarily garbage-free...for now.

I’ll be very curious to see how fast it starts accumulating again, piece by sad, sorry, uncivilized, disrespectful piece.

                                             *   *   *   *   *

One other quick note on our community...I do not know Sheriff Jenkins, and was not involved in the recent election which brought him into office. I do not know Jim Branch either, and have no knowledge of the much-publicized incident in which five deputies were fired for following improper procedures involving the chain of command other than what was reported in this newspaper.

But I was very pleased to read recently that under Sheriff Jenkins four of those deputies have been re-hired and reinstated into their previous positions and will be able to continue their careers as police officers here in Culpeper.

It seemed to me the circumstances of their terminations were a bit unfair, to say the least, and I am heartened to see Sheriff Jenkins is a man who trusts his own instincts and has given these four individuals a second chance based on his own information gathering rather than someone else’s perception, prejudices or outside political pressure.

As I say, I’ve never met Mr. Jenkins, but in my opinion,  he is off to a fine start as the man in charge of our local law enforcement agency. With this one small act of professional decency, he has established himself as a leader worthy of my respect and most certainly my initial trust.

At least until I get a speeding ticket.

Wilkie’s column runs every Wednesday. He lives in Jeffersonton.