By Karen Hall

Editor

Neighbors in the Blue Creek area of southern Marshall County got together last Saturday to pick up trash along the sides of the country roads that wind through the picturesque country hunted by the Hillsboro and Cedar Knob hounds.

The weather was perfect -- warm, but not too warm, with a nice breeze. Even a week later, the weeds would have grown enough to make trash along the roadsides hard to find, but that day the bottles, cans, food wrappers and other junk were easy to spot.

People assembled at a restored country store, owned by Rick Perry, at the corner of the North and South Forks of Blue Creek Road at 11 a.m. and were quickly assigned different areas for pickup. Organizers Chris Elizer and John Menefee supplied trash bags, gloves, and transportation. Elizer and Menefee roamed the countryside in off-road vehicles, collecting filled trash bags and providing water and other beverages.

"We got a whole community out on a beautiful Saturday and did a really good thing," Elizer said later. "We helped the whole community look better."

He hopes to do it again another year.

At the end of the day, about 120 bags bags had been filled for a total of 1,561 pounds of trash to be hauled to the landfill. Each road seemed to have its own type of trash.

Elizer said he thought it was about 50-50 glass beer bottles and aluminum beer cans.

Other people were more specific.

"Jett Road had a bad case of Bud Light and Sun Drop," commented Marianne Byrd on Facebook.

"Robertson Fork and Hyde Road have a smokeless tobacco addiction and Blue Creek near the McDow's has drinks by the quart," added Menefee.

"Those who travel by way of Charlie Thomas Road seem to have an affinity for McDonalds, Bud Light and unlabeled canned goods," wrote Brenda Black of Nashville, who worked as hard as anyone, but also enjoyed the day in the country with her two dogs and her camera.

"My hat's off to the gentleman that has thrown out a 32-ounce bottle of Natural Light on Fairview Road every day for the past 30 years!" Elizer posted, "At least he is consistent."

The most unusual finds were the remains of a trampoline, and several tractor tires.

After all the trash had been picked up, workers assembled back at Perry's store for a delicious meal and plenty of fellowship.

The caterer was a friend of Menefee's, and when he found out what the occasion was, he donated the meal for free.

"I thought that was a pretty neat deal," said Elizer. "I would love to see the trash stop being thrown down," he added.