It was a hot sunny day last Tuesday. As Seymour resident Debbie Hatcher drove her daughter to band practice something in the road caught her attention. In the middle of Chapman Hwy., a quarter mile before Floyd’s Market, lay a full bag of trash. Hatcher was disgusted. She couldn’t believe that someone would allow their trash to fall out of their vehicle and then leave it in the middle of the road. She drove her daughter to band practice and decided something had to be done.
However, when Hatcher made her way back to Chapman Hwy., the bag was gone. Instead of rejoicing that someone may have picked it up the loaded bag, Hatcher became disgusted.
“In the time I drove my daughter to band camp someone had driven over the bag,” said Hatcher. “Trash was everywhere and people were just driving over it.”
Both sides of Chapman were littered with used dirty baby diapers, foam stuffing, tossed out children’s books, and other items.
Hatcher, a native of Louisiana, couldn’t believe her eyes. “My family moved here for the beauty of the mountains. We love this area and we love our town. How can people throw trash on the ground in such a beautiful place, she thought. How can people not care like this?”
She then decided to make a sign of orange cardboard, grabbed a couple garbage containers, some rubber gloves and returned to the sight. She spent nearly three hours cleaning up the litter that had scattered along Chapman Hwy. Filling both containers, Hatcher found herself picking up all kinds of trash. Some of the items looked weathered as though they had been thrown out months ago, while some items were fresh. Among the newer items were political signs, beverage cans, and fast food bags.
In those three hours, she had cleared a half-mile section on Chapman. “I had to call you and let you know this happening,” Hatcher told me at the seen. “People have to know that it isn’t right to leave their trash on the road. This is such a great town and we need to all work together to keep it clean.”
According to page 102 of the Law Review, any person littering on public or private property, without permission and does not immediately remove it, can face a $200 fine as well as being required to remove litter along state and local highways for up to six months. The law book, used by the Sevier County Sheriff’s Department, also states that any vehicle transporting litter is required to have such material in an enclosed space or fully covered by a tarpaulin. All litter needs to be transported in a way that reasonably ensures it will not fall or be blown off of the vehicle. The law also mentions that any person who reports information to a law enforcement officer, and it leads to the apprehension and conviction of a person violating litter laws, they will receive a $100 reward.

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