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This past weekend inmates with the Troup County Jail and staff at the Troup County Sheriff’s Office took to the shoreline of West Point Lake to clean up trash. Captain Nathan Taylor approached Sheriff James Woodruff with an idea to help do their part in keeping Troup County clean by bringing attention to the trash problem around West Point Lake.

Inmates and staff spent over six hours cleaning up the shoreline and roadway near the Roanoke Road Bridge. From that cleanup, a total of 73 bags of trash were collected and removed along with several tires and other large items.

Partners like Leaving LaGrange Better Than We Found provided clean up supplies and Dairy Queen provided lunches for the inmates and TCSO volunteers cleaning up. 

We know that trash on the lake is a hot topic right now, and we appreciate Taylor taking the initiative to take his Saturday to clean up our lake. 

“It is so important we control the trash in our vehicles and on our boats because a lot of this trash is coming from fishermen too,” Taylor said. “We are finding a ton of worm buckets and stuff that flies off the back of boats.” 

It is imperative people with trucks transporting trash make sure to remember to have everything tied down securely. 

A lot of trash can fly off the back of trucks if not tied down properly. We also ask fishermen to respect the lakes they are using and not dump any bait trash buckets or leftover trash on the shoreline or in the water. 

Taylor said he hopes to continue to have inmates and volunteers helping pick up the shorelines in the weeks to come. 

We hope this initiative continues with TCSO, and we hope that it inspires others to not only volunteer to pick up trash but to not litter. 

Our neighbors, co-workers, community leaders, family members and more have spent a lot of free weekends volunteering to pick up trash throughout Troup County. How would they feel if they knew you were part of the problem? 

Don’t be part of the litter problem.