May 20, 2022
By:
The Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber and DeKalb County Mayor’s office held the DeKalb County Clean Up event on May 14th with over 50 people signing up to pick up trash. Mayor Tim Stribling and Chamber Director Suzanne Williams expressed how important a clean county is to tourism, to potential businesses looking to relocate here, and to the residents who live here.
One week before the event, dumpsters were placed across the county to allow people to get a head start on their litter pick up. Dumpster trash collection reports are as follows: Dowelltown collected 8,520 lbs., Liberty 5,120 lbs., Alexandria 4,420 lbs., County Complex 520 lbs. for a total of 18,580 lbs. of trash collected.
This year’s DeKalb Clean Up Teams included Brandon Cox Team (with the largest number of team members), DeKalb Prevention Coalition, Justin Potter Library, and Edgar Evins State Park. Edgar Evins State Park picked up trash on the Highland Rim Trail. Justin Potter Library employees pick up litter and cigarette butts all year long around the library.
DeKalb Clean Up Spotlight Volunteers! Diane and Jim Loy have been a part of the TDOT “Friends of Tennessee” Adopt-a-Highway program from February 2001 through May 2022 and have picked up trash and cleaned numerous areas monthly on Hwy. 56 from Hurricane Bridge South to 2.1 miles toward Smithville. They also pick up litter at the Center Hill Lake Scenic Over-Look and League Chapel Cemetery. On May 10th, the Loys collected nine 33-gallon size bags of trash. From June 2021 to April 2022, they have picked up a total of 109 bags of trash. What a debt of gratitude we owe to them for their 21 years of dedicated service. They love DeKalb County, and it definitely shows in their actions.
For beautification, new flowers were planted on three sides of the DeKalb County Courthouse.
The Smithville Town Cemetery has numerous volunteers who are working on beautifying that historic graveyard as well as restoration projects.
Whether beautifying a street, highway, park, ball field, stream, or home, what a difference we can make through working together! Thank you to everyone who helped in any way.