To the Editor:

I was glad to see the article “Resident complains about litter along roadways” in the Jan. 26 issue of The Tidewater News.

I live on the south end of Delaware Road in the Checkerboard section. We have 650 feet of roadway frontage in front of our property, and the trash problem is ongoing. Our ditch and field are constantly littered with trash.

I have picked up at least seven large bags each time I walk the ditch bank. I have complained about this problem in the past, but nothing has been done about it.

The prisoners used to pick up trash once or twice a year, but we have not seen them in the past two years.

Since Walmart has come to Franklin, traffic from North Carolina has increased on our road due to using Schoolhouse Road to Delaware Road as a shortcut. Also, regulating the disposal sites has caused an increase in trash dumping on the roadsides.

Since the county implemented the program for offenders to pick up trash, we have not seen anyone. We must have upstanding citizens on our stretch of road.

I hope your article will raise more awareness of this problem and that our Board of Supervisors will come up with a plan to control trash dumping in the county. I also hope that this will make those who dump trash in front of other people’s homes more aware of what they our doing to our county and property values.

And I look forward to seeing the inmates picking up trash on our end of the road this summer. Blair Bunn is right. Who would want to buy a home in Southampton County when they focus on the aesthetics of trash along the roadsides?

Theresa Henderson
Franklin