St. Landry Parish cracking down on litterers
In St. Landry Parish, a team effort between multiple agencies is leading the charge for a clean parish by pushing for more convictions for those who litter.
ST. LANDRY PARISH, La. (KLFY) -- In St. Landry Parish, a team effort between multiple agencies is leading the charge for a clean parish by pushing for more convictions for those who litter.
Richard LeBouef of the St. Landry Parish Solid Waste littering in the parish has become a constant issue.
"We had people come in from outside the parish that we've caught come in and out and dump their stuff here. We also have the same problem with people here in the parish," said LeBouef.
Richard LeBouef says the litter problem has only gotten worse in the rural areas of the parish in recent years.
"We found a complete roofing job that was put on pieces of plywood, chained to a bridge, and left there for us. We picked it up, and it happened again," said LeBouef.
As the issue continued to rise, an initiative was launched in the parish headed by LeBouef, parish president Jessie Bellard, the sheriff's office and the department of wildlife and fisheries to add more agents and deputies to track down the people that litter.
An initiative that is already seeing quick and effective results.
"I picked up the phone and I saw some stuff off of Maddie Road. In 40 minutes, I received a call back from Spencer Cornette (parish investigator) he found the dump site, went through the trash, and they had gone and issued the citations. One of those will be in court next week. 40 minutes," LeBouef explained.
In addition to those citations, several other people who chose to litter in the parish will also be standing before a judge.
"Five of these cases were on the docket of the last court case, and on the district level," said LeBouef.
LeBouef says the hope is for these first 5 cases on the docket to start a domino effect that will prevent any further people from wanting to litter, thus leading to a cleaner parish.
LeBouef says he's heard from District Attorney Chad Pitre. The goal is to push for the strictest punishment which consists of a $500 fine for first offenders and up to 30 days in jail by the third offense.
"With Chad Pitre being the district attorney and really filing his knife and filing through these things. It's like Christmas for us. We can't be more excited," LeBouef said.