By: Shayla Terry

People Against Liter kicked off their annual clean up in March, and the Crenshaw County Commission decided residents should participate.

“It’s a state wide cleanup,” Crenshaw County District 2 commissioner Michelle Stephens said. “We decided to get our people involved so that we can make Crenshaw County cleaner.”

The commission decided to make their efforts a contest. The group or organization with the most trash picked up would win $300, second place will win $200 and third place will win $100.

“We provided the groups with the trash bags that PAL had provided for us,” Stephens said. “They told us which roads they would pick up on, so that we wouldn’t have people doubling back.”

Over the course of the last three weeks, the various groups throughout the county have collected more than 300 bags of trash.

In Rutledge, Mayor Steve Phillip picked up from Hwy 331 to the graveyard in the community.

“There was a lot trash picked up,” Phillips said. “It helps our community look better. Maybe if people don’t see trash, and then they wont throw it out. The contest and money is nice, but that wasn’t what it was about. We needed to clean up.”

Group leader Mandy Laird for the Chapel Hill Community says they involved their children, and went out in one day to collect trash.

“We talked to the kids, and we really wanted to win the prize money for our youth trip,” Laird said. “It’s important that the kids learn the importance of helping in the community and work to keep it beautiful.”

Stephens says she is happy that the contest produced a good turnout.

“Crenshaw County is absolutely a lot cleaner,” she said. “We are so grateful for the involvement that we had. We’re trying to educate about littering so that we can keep our county clean.”

The New Ebenezer Baptist Church also put all of their efforts toward cleaning their community in one day.

“We had decided to pick up garbage before we even knew about the contest,” group leader Wesley Boyd said. “I talked to Commissioner Ricky McElwain, and we decided to enter contest. I hope people can see if we can work together we can accomplish a lot.”

The winners of the contest will be announced Monday, April 24, at the county commission meeting at 6 p.m.