Students Pick Up Prizes in Anti-Litter Campaign

First place winner Jessie Christine Hendrick’s submission

“Clean up the roadside litter,” is a citizen demand that regularly makes its rounds through the Fannin County Courthouse.  Three Fannin residents, Helen Childs, Michael Brunson and Susan Todd-Raque, have invested in a long-term strategy to change Fannin residents’ attitudes about littering.  “Picking up litter should be an easy thing to happen” said Todd-Raque

The first part of their strategy is an annual essay/poster competition about litter and recycling for Fannin middle and high school students. 2016 competition winners are: 1^st Place – Jessie Christine Hendricks; 2^nd Place – Lacey Walden; 3^rd place – Lizzi Brown and Honorable Mentions – Miriam Foster, Hannah Green and Mikayla Simms.  The top three winners split $600 in award money that Childs, Brunson and Todd-Raque donated.  This is the second year the group has run the contest. The 2015 essay contest received over 300 submissions. “Young people get it,” said Todd-Raque.

Other parts of their “Keep Blue Ridge /Fannin County” campaign have not gone as successfully.  The group has been asking the Fannin County government and Chamber of Commerce to make Fannin County an affiliate of “Keep America Beautiful”. The group proposes that a current Fannin County employee or a part-time person be made the point person for coordinating environmental awareness activities in Fannin County.  These activities include Adopt-A-Mile programs, recycling programs, scheduling frequent litter pickup and coordinating a county-wide trash pickup system, as well as, events like Rivers Alive Fall Toccoa River clean up, which is scheduled for Oct. 1 this year.