County Commissioner's Office

County Talk
By
Lamar Paris - Commissioner 

Q. Thank you for picking up the trash on our road this week. Are we making any progress with stopping littering?
A. Unfortunately, based on the numbers listed below, we still have a lot of people littering. However, we are going to be making every effort to find and fine those responsible. Listed below are the roads that have been picked up in March for a total trash pickup of 7,320 lbs on 155 miles of roadway ditches.

Mulky Gap, Ivylog, Trackrock Gap, Town Mtn, Bunker Hill, Queen Gap Conn, Hayfield, Pleasant Grove Church, Copperhead, Jones Cr, Pat Colwell, Foster Rd, Blue Ridge Hwy, Skeenah Gap, Loving, Mull, Cook Henry E & W, Nottely Dam, Jonica Gap, Dean Gap, Mt. Pleasant Church, Hidden Lake, Fortenberry, Owltown and Spur, Weaver Cir, Lower Owltown, Town Cr School, Booger Hollow, Kelley Rd, Lows Mill Rd and Lane, Crescent, Kiutuestia, Tanner, Kings Rd, Elisha Payne Cir.

It is absolutely ridiculous that we have to spend this much time, effort, and money on picking up trash!!!!!

We just installed our new Litter Hotline # and it is 706-439-6025. If you see anyone throwing out trash or have a trash complaint, you can call this number and if no one answers, please leave the information on the recording. Remember, we mainly need four items of information if you see someone littering. The location, time of day, vehicle ID the best you can ( example late model blue pickup) and certainly the most important, the tag number.

Q. I am confused about where I can go fishing and which streams I am allowed to fish on. Can you help?
A. Lee Keifer with the Dept. of Natural Resources says this is and always has been a grey area of the law which apparently dates to 1860. Small streams are controlled by land owners. The exception would be the National Forest who would control all streams on their property. On rivers, if it is considered navigable, the state owns the water rights and you could fish the entire length as long as you did not have to cross private property to get to the river. Once you leave the banks of the river you could be trespassing on private property.

There is no published list of which streams are considered small and which are considered navigable. And if a stream is considered navigable, such as the Nottely River, at what point up stream does it become a small stream? Apparently there is no clear cut answer to this question. Someone jokingly said one time that you could keep fishing up stream until somebody shot at you. We would not recommend this procedure. If you have other questions, you might speak to a Dept. of Natural Resources Game and Fish Officer or contact the U.S. Forest Service with reference to streams on their property.

Q. Are we any closer to getting a Wal-Mart? What can you tell us about that?
A. We do not have much of an update. They are still very interested, but continue to work on design, budget and permits from the state. We anticipate knowing for sure within the next sixty days. No project is for sure-neither Wal-Mart or the resort-until the property is purchased. You then know for sure the people are serious. As the old saying goes, “When they have put their money where their mouth is, things start to happen.”

Back to List Page