County honored for cleanup efforts

Congressman Hal Rogers, R-Somerset, and PRIDE recently announced that Taylor County and Campbellsville met the "Get Five for PRIDE" challenge during PRIDE Spring Cleanup Month, the anti-litter campaign in southern and eastern Kentucky in April.

Congressman Hal Rogers, R-Somerset, center, presented Taylor County's Get Five for PRIDE certificate to the county's PRIDE Coordinator, Debra McNear, and Taylor County Judge/Executive Eddie Rogers.

"Last year, I couldn't believe more than 30,000 people would volunteer to pick up trash across the region, but PRIDE volunteers had another record-breaking year for 2011," Rogers stated. "The old tires and used appliances tossed over the hillsides are finally becoming a thing of the past.

"PRIDE volunteers have worked hard to educate our community members about the value of putting trash in its proper place and the importance of recycling. All the hard work is paying off and we invite more people to join PRIDE again this fall."

The "Get Five for PRIDE" challenge set the goal of a 5 percent increase in the number of volunteers who served during the 2010 spring cleanup.

Taylor County met the challenge by recruiting 215 volunteers in April. Campbellsville also increased its volunteers by more than 5 percent, reaching a total of 49.

The goal also was surpassed by the region as a whole, with more than 33,100 volunteers. The 2011 spring cleanup saw the largest volunteer turnout since PRIDE began organizing the annual cleanup campaign in 1998.

The month-long spring cleanup campaign removed 32,840 bags of trash and 27,513 tons of trash from the region's landscape. Ten tons of junk appliances and 52 tons of other materials were recycled, and 203 tons of old tires were gathered for proper disposal.

The annual spring cleanup is hosted by Eastern Kentucky PRIDE, a nonprofit organization that encourages environmental cleanup and education in a 38-county region. Local governments organized the cleanup activities, and PRIDE provided supplies, volunteer T-shirts and funding assistance.