By: Claire Tribble
Oh, Dairy Road, you never cease to amaze me. Over the last few weeks, I have had the absolute privilege to work with an extremely talented and nice young man, Isaac Britnell. Isaac is a student at Athens Renaissance School, an Eagle Scout, and a member of the Athens Mayor’s Youth Commission. He’s working on a video project for Eagle Scouts. You may have seen the Facebook post from the City of Athens when he was interviewing Mayor Ronnie Marks about the problems with litter and pollution in Limestone County.
Isaac interviewed me a few weeks ago to learn more about litter and pollution in Limestone County. I gave him all of the numbers, as depressing as they are. Just to refresh your memory, Keep Athens-Limestone Beautiful is responsible for removing 182,192 pounds (91.1 TONS) over the last 5 years. The Commissioners’ litter crews remove 900-1,200 pounds of litter per week and the City of Athens runs a litter crew too. We talked money too; those numbers will make you sick to your stomach.
We talked about the ways that litter can travel — wind, water, people. After we went over all of this, Isaac wanted to go somewhere where he could shoot a video showing litter. The first place that popped in my head was Dairy Road, part of the Swan Creek Wildlife Management Area. Even though we removed 1,160 pounds of trash from Dairy Road in March, I figured that there would be more since we’re at the end of summer. Dairy Road delivered, maybe even went above and beyond.
I had sent several people out to clean up for some service hours recently, so several fishing holes were actually in pretty good shape. Then we found the motherload. Five tires, 4 bags of calcium chloride pellets, a large trail of oil where someone had emptied their oil pan, the empty containers from their new oil, clothes, trash and innumerable cigarette butts — all in one fishing hole. With the tires and the calcium chloride bags, I’d guess at least 600 pounds in maybe a 15’x20’ spot. It’s absolutely insane how anyone could put so much effort into trashing a beautiful place. A place that is open to the public for fishing and camping. We can’t have nice things if they aren’t taken care of.
As I sat here writing this article, Derrick Gatlin, District 3 Commissioner called. He was on Cowford Road, just a few miles from Dairy Road, and someone had dumped down both sides of the road. Guess what they dumped — dirty diapers and used toilet paper. And not just a few, we’re talking about a truckload. And of course, none of it was bagged, it was all loose. He and his guys are out there with rakes and a skid steer to get it cleaned up.
If you see something, say something. You can report litter at 256-233-8000, or through our website. We can’t seem to get ahead here lately, but every little bit helps. Maybe one day we can stop spending so much money cleaning up people’s trash and do other things. And thank you, Isaac, for doing such an amazing job at shedding light on litter and pollution in our hometown. Until then…
By: Claire Tribble – Executive Director, Keep Athens-Limestone Beautiful
June 20, 2025
