VFW requests public's help to clean up around Haleyville Sports Complex on May 16

HALEYVILLE - A section of 9th Avenue in Haleyville leading to the city’s sports complex has become such an eyesore due to littering that a major clean-up effort is being planned.

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4543’s fourth annual Day of Service has been set aside for this community clean-up event on Friday, May 16, beginning at 4 p.m. 

Members of VFW 4543 are urging community volunteers, not just VFW members, to meet them at the entrance  to the sports complex, where bags will be given out and participants divided, with part of them cleaning 9th Avenue toward 28th Street and the other half going toward Dime Road, organizers said.

The trash includes numerous beer cans, empty cases of beer, an old tire and paper products, all the way to large bags of household garbage that are tossed out along the roadside and even into a wooded area off 9th Avenue leading to Dime Road, city officials stressed.

One garbage bag contained an old milk jug, an orange juice container and numerous other household trash items, stated Bryan Lawler, commander of VFW Post 4543 and director of the sports complex, adding that there are some individuals who have been using the garbage cans at the sports complex to dispose of their personal household garbage.

The City of Haleyville will provide sanitation vehicles for disposal of the bags of garbage collected, according to VFW members.

“It’s a nuisance and it’s an eyesore,” Lawler emphasized. “We have hundreds of people from out of town come down this road every weekend to ball games and both sides of the road are covered up in trash.”

Anywhere from 600-800 people visit the sports complex on weekends when tournaments are held, not counting sports teams which, during a tournament, number around 240 people, according to Lawler.

“We don’t have enough manpower for people to come out every day and pick up trash on the side of the road,” Lawler added. “We shouldn’t have to have people picking up trash. People should pick their own trash up as they go or wait until they get home.”

Dwight Thomas, senior vice commander of VFW Post 4543, also lives on 9th Avenue near the sports complex and sees the results of throwing out  trash and debris.

“It’s an eyesore,” Thomas emphasized. “People coming from out of town see it and think, ‘Haleyville must not care about its beautification.'  After we pick it up, we’ll show that we’re making things more beautiful through here.”

According to the laws pertaining to littering, people must be caught in the act before they face a $500 fine, according to Mayor Ken Sunseri.

Haleyville Police Chief Rodney Lewis stressed that discarding trash along roadsides is being taken seriously. “We have started issuing citations for it, if we see it, trying to keep the city cleaner,” Lewis stated.

“It’s not just one area. It’s all over,” the chief continued. “It’s everything from a Coke can to a couch.”