The Christmas Dump Fiasco

"After community members voiced their concerns on Black Friday about not knowing the Lewis County Transfer Station was closed," said Lewis County Mayor Jonah Keltner, "our office worked to ensure proper notification was given for Christmas holiday closures," almost to the point of excess.

This statement comes after what is being dubbed, "The Christmas Dump Fiasco," which is being compared by some on Facebook to the "Flower Box Fiasco," a community conversation held over the summer regarding the new cedar flower planters placed on Main Street in downtown Hohenwald.

The Transfer Station was closed Friday, December 22nd and reopened Tuesday the 26th, so the hard working attendants could spend time with their family over the Christmas weekend. It was then closed Friday the 29th and Monday the 1st in honor of the New Year holiday.

"We communicated this very well, in every way possible," explained Mayor Keltner. "An ad was placed in the Lewis County Herald (which only costs $20 for a year's subscription to stay informed), placed an ad on the local radio station for listeners of 99.5 FM WMLR, we posted it on Facebook for the social media gurus as well as on our website for anyone who cared to do a quick search. It was posted on all doors at the courthouse as well as numerous places at the transfer station for weeks."

While they did not pull out the white pages and personally call each citizen, or fly a banner across the sky via plane, the information was out there, and if you went looking for it, it was there to be found. Also, this writer would never attempt to load a trailer of garbage and drive across town during the holidays without picking up the telephone to find out if they are open.

However, some did, and were so disappointed to find them closed upon arrival, that they dumped their waste outside the gate. Some even did so right in front of the posted signs that say, 'Video Cameras are Present.' "Because of their actions, said Keltner, "our Solid Waste Director had to leave his family on Christmas Eve morning to move huge piles of garbage out of the driveway."

It got cleaned up and moved out, and the Transfer station decided to leave a dumpster outside the gate for the New Year holiday. However, by 10 a.m., it was overflowing. "Luckily," expressed Keltner, "our Dog Catcher Randy Norwood, who was out there feeding the dogs in the pound, messaged me at 10 a.m. and told me about the pile running over. I came straight from the deer stand to help him clean it up, and it was over two truckloads just on the ground, several loose items, and a deer carcass. Director Stutts came in and moved the dumpster. No one else dumped on the ground after that, as we put a road closed sign closer to the main road. Thankfully, this has never been a reoccurring problem." See Page 3 for this year's planned closings.