Help Keep Hempstead County Beautiful

By Staff, 02/20/18 12:37 PM

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The highways in Hempstead County are looking better and better thanks to Mr. Olen Dorman. Mr. Dorman has been a resident of Bodcaw and has been in Hempstead County for 50 years now and has been a Reserve for 27 years; 16 of those years were with the City of Hope.

Dorman volunteered to take on this project. The program is state funded, they pay by inmate per hour and the county also supplements. On Monday, February 19 Dorman picked up all the trash that was along the bypass; he stated that this was the fifth time he has done the bypass since August of 2017. His help varies each round from 2-6 people helping. Areas that they have done include, Highway 278 from Hope to Ozan, Highway 73 West to Columbus, Highway 174 to Spring Hill, Highway 355 to the Bois De Arc Lake, Highway 73 East to the county line, Highway 32 to the county line, and Highway 67 from Fulton to Perrytown. There are areas that they currently cannot reach to pick up due to the rain.

Dorman stated “items that we have found the most of are feed sacks from deer season that have blown from the bed of pickups, fast food restaurant sacks that people have thrown out their windows, soda cans, and baby diapers.”

Ways that the public can help, is by not throwing their trash out of their vehicles, and don’t place items that can be blown out in the back of pickups. The public is also encouraged to do an area of the highway themselves. Organizations and groups are welcome to speak with Mr. Dorman about adopting a highway to help keep the highways in Hempstead County free from litter.

If you are caught littering, you will be charged a fine. If you see someone littering, report it! Arkansas has a litter hotline that is free and anonymous, you will be asked to give date, location, vehicle description including the license number, description of what was littered, and if it came from the driver or a passenger of their vehicle.