GIBSON — Residents in the town of Gibson might have noticed a difference in an area off of Quick Street that is usually covered in trash. This week, that area received some special attention, thanks to an initiative put forward by the Scotland County Sheriff’s Office.
The Sheriff’s Office had received several complaints about the area and, after talking to area residents, it was decided that the complaints would fall under the Operation Safe Streets program. After contacting Solid Waste and the town of Gibson, the Sheriff’s Office created a plan to clean up the area.
“We really appreciate the solid waste crew and their active participation and assistance in this,” said Deputy Darryl Ford. “The town of Gibson was very, very pleased — we were able to get 155 bags of trash and 2,500 pounds of garbage.”
The cleanup took around six hours, according to Ford, and there were around six deputies who rotated in during the time — along with the Department of Transportation, Solid Waste work crew and town Commissioner Ken Haney all helped clean up the trash.
The idea behind Operation Safe Streets is for the Sheriff’s Office to gain a more positive relationship with the community in hopes of preventing crime.
According to Scotland County Solid Waste Officer Scott Parks, the help from the entities were greatly appreciated, and having the Sheriff’s Office around gave his crew a sense of safety while they were cleaning up.
“It was a seriously big project, so it was very beneficial to have them helping us,” Parks said. “It would have taken several weeks for us to get it cleaned up, but with everyone helping it only took a couple of hours.”
Parks added that they’re always happy to have any kind of help to clean up the county and that what was done yesterday made a big impact on that area.
“It was unsightly and messy, so we were just trying to get the street cleaned up,” Ford said. “Several citizens came up to thank us — it’s been a heavily littered area of years and with 15 to 20 people we were able to get it cleaned up.”
Reach Katelin Gandee at 910-506-3171 or kgandee@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com
