Benton County Readies For Spring Cleanup

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County officials and volunteers said they are ready for the annual Spring Cleanup.

The cleanup will be from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at Road Department sites in Bentonville, Decatur and Garfield.

John Sudduth, county general services administrator, said many county departments and employees work to make the cleanup a success.

"The Sheriff's Office gives us a couple of inmate work crews," he said. "We'll have officers on 102 directing traffic, and they'll send a deputy to help with collecting the pharmaceuticals. Of course, there's the Road Department also. It's their site and it's their equipment."

The county is always able to use more volunteers and this year is no exception, said Teresa Sidwell, county environmental manager.

One source of volunteers will come from NorthWest Arkansas Community College. Chris Huggard, a professor at the college, said some of his students will participate as part of their classwork.

"It's more than just volunteering," Huggard said. "They have studied in class the history of sustainability, conservation and recycling. Also, as part of the project they're learning what it takes to organize and manage an event like this."

"It's part of what we call our service learning program," Huggard said. "They end up doing a service as well as learning."

There are five students on the service learning team, and they have recruited other volunteers to work Saturday, Huggard said. The students also will do an Earth Day presentation at the Rogers Boys & Girls Club as part of their project.

"You take what you learn in the classroom into the community with a service," he said.

Another source of manpower will be the county community work program. Kay Strickland, program coordinator, works with the court system to identify people who can do community service work as part of their sentence rather than face jail time.

"I've been here since 2007 and the judges have been on board with the program for as long as I've been here," she said. "Normally we're going to get a lot of people from the district courts, which deal with more misdemeanors. We get people who've been convicted of DWI, possession, shoplifting and other charges. Sometimes if they've been convicted of excessive speeding the judge will sentence them to community service."

Strickland will supervise the community service workers to make sure they fulfill their commitment. Workers were assigned to nearly all of the different stations at last year's cleanup, she said.

Judges have agreed to allow community service workers to count their hours on a two-for-one basis so they get credit for an eight-hour day even though the cleanup only runs four hours, Strickland said.

"We seem to get a lot of people who are willing to come out and do the work," Strickland said. "We've never had any problems with them, they're good help. We appreciate them and we appreciate the judges for allowing them to do their community service."

Sidwell expects Saturday's event to meet or exceed past participation levels. The Spring Cleanup has grown from 900 participants in 2011 to 1,135 participants last year. The volume of materials collected for disposal or recycling also continues to grow, she said. Electronic items collected for recycling totaled 37,956 pounds in 2011 and 62,000 pounds last year.

Last year, people and vehicles lined up and waited on the highway in front of the Bentonville road yard before the gates even opened, Sidwell said.

"It's better if you don't show up right at 8 a.m.," she said. "It really does benefit people to show up from 9 to noon when it's not so congested."

NW News on 04/21/2014