"Serious" Recycling!

Raise Cain said...

Okay it was on the news, here is their wonderful plan. We lose one of our pick ups a week, the city will sell a second garbage can per household for an EXTRA $7.00 a month ($84 per year). So that means now, if you have an average or above average amount of garbage from your home, you now have to deal with TWO ugly cans to fill and deal with in your driveway, on your property and pay dearly for the second one to be emptied.

So I guess you have to accumulate for your pick up or hold back to get your money's worth???...heck none of that makes any sense!!! Wouldn't it have been simpler to have an across the board rate increase of a dollar or two a month per every household than deal with this nonsense?? It is supposedly due to fuel costs, everyone can understand that, if so, raise the rates a dollar or two and WHEN the rates go down and they are already falling, reduce it!

You know the old saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"? The City Council apparently has nothing else to do than deal with garbage. Not only are we getting the shaft, but this action caused job losses or cut backs to the businesses who were dealing with the city. Soooo, landfill rates will go up in retaliation, wait and see!

Our leaders just started a snow ball affect that will be far reaching across the city.Didn't we go through this a few years back, not long after the Mayor took office for the first time and she and the council came up the the "dumpsters from hell around town" plan???? Oh yeah, what a genius idea that was, garbage was flying out of dumpsters in the streets, county and city folks were dumping mattresses, washing machines, old TVs, it was horrific and a giant mess! It did not take long for the City leaders to figure that out, once folks started raising cain.

Do we have to wait to raise cain this time to see the garbage on the highways and streets again??? I say NO...start now!

As "be heard" said: Go to the Greenville website: http://www.greenville.ms.us/ward1.html
Locate your City Council person's e-mail accordingly and while there, include the Mayor's - hhudson@www.greenville.ms.us or call City Hall! 662-378-1501.

"Raise Cain" is right. We have all been down this road before. What will be different this time about once a week garbage pick-up? We certainly don't produce any less garbage and recycling has been a dismal failure in Greenville. So who profits from this change? Certainly not the taxpayers!

Recycling is big business in most major cities these days and much of the responsibility is placed on the citizens themselves. In some northeastern states, recycling is mandatory or punishable by fine... and by "recycling", I'm not talking about collecting aluminum cans on the side of the road for money, but SERIOUS recycling.

Two years ago, I rented a private vacation home in New York State. When I arrived at the house, I noted a row of 10 brightly colored "storage" containers lined against the rear of the house. After unpacking and getting settled in, I found a brochure on the kitchen counter entitled "Recycling Instructions". I opened a bottle of wine, poured a drink and sat down and began to read it. By the time I had finished (both the brochure and the wine), I was ready to jump the next plane back to the Delta.

The brochure explained that the ten brightly colored "storage" containers were recycling bins and were labeled:

• Clear Glass
• Green Glass
• Brown Glass
• Blue Glass
• Aluminum
• Paper
• Plastic
• Styrofoam
• Organic Waste
• Inorganic Waste

Not only did you have to sort all of your "garbage" into these 10 categories, but you then had to drive the garbage to various local recycling centers and dispose of it. It went on to say that home pick-up was possible for an additional charge of $150 per month and that violations of the recycling laws were punishable by a $500 fine and/or imprisonment.

At this point, my ten day vacation on Long Island seemed to be rapidly "shrinking". I picked up the empty bottle of wine, the aluminum wrapping, the cork and a paper towel with which I had used to dry my hands and slowly proceeded out the back door to the "bins".

A simple drink of wine had rendered 4 waste products, none of which could touch each other in their afterlife. Okay, no problem; I am an educated adult... green wine bottle in the "green glass", paper towel goes to "paper", aluminum bottle wrapping to "aluminum" and the cork goes to........??? I paused and examined the cork. Was it real cork or one of those plastic imitations they use these days? If it is cork, would that be organic or inorganic? If it was plastic, should it go in "plastics" or maybe... "Styrofoam"???

Perhaps it was the wine, but I was a bit dizzy at this point. Rather than risk an environmental disaster, punishable by fine and/or imprisonment, I put the cork in my pocket and went back in the house to ponder dinner.

I had passed a fresh seafood market just down the road and thought it would be great to cook a simple seafood dinner. Done. I reached in my pocket for my car keys and pulled out the cork. As I looked at it, I pondered... how many different waste products would be generated by my "simple" seafood dinner? I then put the cork back in my pocket, found my car keys and drove straight to the nearest restaurant for dinner.

Yes, we in the Delta are spoiled! To this day, whenever I head to the "garbage can", I reflect on my Long Island vacation and think... our day is coming.

Forthright

The Right to "Question"

Anonymous offers...

Here is a new topic. I was shocked to see in the DDT today pictures of the Greenville Public School teachers and right up in the middle of them is the teacher who was accused in Leland of touching a female student.

This is the teacher Dr. Richards with all her wisdom let resign instead of call in the authorities like she is legally supposed to do. So now he can do the same thing to some poor Greenville children because Dr. Richards is smarter and above the law.

Some day I hope she and this man get their just rewards. She wouldn't be so flip if that had been one of her grandchildren!

Although everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty, if this alleged incident was never reported to authorities or covered up by school district personnel, there is a serious problem with this educator... and Dr. Richards.

There is a great shortage of teachers in our state and certain "standards" have been lowered to help fill vacancies, but allowing even the perception of impropriety with regard to our children's' safety and welfare is inconceivable! Teachers, like the rest of mainstream American employees, should be subject to random drug screens and background checks to insure their "accountability".

Okay Greenville parents, it looks like you just inherited a potential problem. What say you?

Forthright

Changing the Subject...

Alrighty, how about the Mayor of Greenville going part time? Mayor Hudson has opened her own law practice in her dad's old location. She will be working half days as Mayor and the other as an attorney.....questions to be answered...how does this affect Greenville? what about the bodyguards, are they to be paid City tax dollars, while she is at her law practice??

How much of her law office expenses and business traveling will end up being covered by the City???....As full time Mayor she was/is pretty awful, part time????? Well that might be an improvement in the long run! LOL

Let Councilmen Gines or McGee take the second shift, we might have a chance with her out of pocket!

Interesting! Who among us would not like to be paid the same salary for half the work? Of course the Mayor's salary will not make anyone rich, but any attorney worth their salts could make three times as much, particularly in Daddy's law firm.

The questions posed by this author are quite valid. Will the Mayor only be reimbursed for a one-way ticket to Europe? Will she be reduced to only two bodyguards? Will ribbon-cuttings and civic appearances now have to be planned around her court docket?

All interesting questions which I am sure will be played out in the near future. Perhaps she should contact Kim Dowdy and see if she is still interested in the job on a "part-time" basis. Job sharing seems to be all the rage these days!

Forthright

A Silver Lining...

Thank God that there is a silver lining in most dark clouds. Most of us strive to improve our communities in some way for the present, and future generations, while others do nothing but, criticize, lie, and down those that do.

First, let me commend the three new School Board Members, Evelyn Gordon Murray, Board President, George R. Walker, and Lester Walker who has demonstrated that they have the, ambition, ability, and courage to deal with today’s complex problems that our schools face. To those members who are still part of this board who consistently made poor decisions in the past, turned a blind eye and deaf ear to the dangers, and problems that consistently plagued our schools I, respectfully suggest to you that you find the same courage that you did in the past years in making poor decisions that you somehow find the same courage to follow in the same foot steps as the superintendent.

Again, I commend the new members of the Leland School Board who seems to be headed in the right direction. Gods speed.

James W. Lowe, Sr.

Just got back from vacation and it seems that much has transpired in my absence. Congratulations to the people of Leland who obviously rallied together to seek a positive change for their children's education. Good job!

Having been out of the loop for a while, I am not sure what is going on at Bolivar Medical Center. I had heard about the CEO's resignation, but nothing about others being "let go". Personnel issues are generally kept confidential.


As for DRMC, 15 RFIs is not good and I believe that may place them on "conditional accreditation". The Joint Commission has really gotten more strict over the past five years and it is no longer a mere "paper survey"... which is a good thing for all of us. No, the doors won't close and DRMC will be given an opportunity to correct many of the problems that were identified.

Bamboo? There is an interesting idea. While on vacation on the west coast, I noticed that bamboo has become quite trendy among homeowners. I visited friends who are Realtors and they shared stories of the growing popularity of this once considered "nuisance crop". The wood derived from bamboo is quite beautiful as a floor product; however, the down side is that no one is allowed to walk on it (with shoes, that is).

Anyway, it is good to be back in the Delta. Sorry, for disappearing, but we all need a vacation from time to time. It seems that readers have kept the Scoop very much alive!

Forthright