Press release
Between rolling thunderstorms last weekend, a team of mounted deputies led by Henderson County Sheriff Botie Hillhouse supervised jail inmates as they collected litter along rural roads.
The “Trustee Trash-Off” started in Precinct 4 Saturday in the Moore Station area of the County.
“For the most part, the weather held together this weekend, but regardless I plan to have our team out there working the inmates as often as possible,” Hillhouse said. “We will be in a rotation, hitting county roads in an effort to literally clean up the county,” he said.
The sheriff said the trustees working the roads have been personally selected by him because of the nature of the non-violent crimes they committed and their good behavior while serving time in jail.
“But that does not mean my riders and I will take anything for granted,” Hillhouse said. “We use the horses, because they can go where a squad car can’t. This team of lawmen and women are always armed and these riders were chosen for this duty because of their horse-riding skills.”
Hillhouse has teamed with 392nd District Judge Scott McKee, who will require those placed on community supervision out of his court to participate in the trash-off operation.
Judge McKee is dedicated to cleaning up our county roads and keeping them clean. By ordering probationers to pick up trash as part of their community service hours, Judge McKee believes the whole community benefits.
Hillhouse said he plans to take the inmates and his riders to a different precinct on various Saturdays year-round to pick up the stuff many people throw out of their vehicles.
“Everyone wants to take pride in their community and I want to make that a little easier by cleaning up the junk that finds its way in to ditches and onto barbed wire fences” he said.
“This operation also sends the right signal to the folks who want to commit crimes in Henderson County – break the law here and you’ll spend some uncomfortable weekends in the hot sun doing some unpleasant work.”
Well, this is awesome. County Road 2144 (incorrectly called Waldie Lane on google maps), between County Line Road and Jess Hinton Road, could use some work. It gets its share of debris and dead dogs, but mostly just needs clearing out the ditches of brush debris by my Mom’s house on County Road 2144. She is too old to get out there and do the work and I’m out of the country working as a contractor for the Army. I’m not sure if it’s the County’s responsibility to keep those ditches clear or not, you know, for drainage and what not.
Bennie