Something’s rotten in the county of Sampson, to loosely quote William Shakespeare. And it has been for some time now. Finally, local leaders are doing something to combat it.
Over the past few years, ag-related waste spills have become a common occurrence in Sampson County, littering roadways throughout our area with various animal byproducts from swine and poultry farms, usually on their way to the landfill. For whatever reason, these incidents have increased in number over recent months, regularly tying up traffic, polluting our county and, honestly, stinking up the place.
Finally, after several months of mulitple stakeholder meetings, Sampson County government leaders are taking action to help combat the issue. Monday night, the commissioners unanimously approved a new solid waste ordinance, spill coordination policy, fee schedule and a $25,000 line item, all with the goal in mind of beefing up enforcement measures, billing the people responsible and efficiently coordinating the various entities that must respond to these incidents.
We applaud our county commissioners, County Manager Allen Vann, Emergency Services Director Rick Sauer, the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office, county attorney Paul Vann and our local agriculture industries for coming together to identify and implement a solution — or the start of one, at least.
While these measures, unfortunately, likely won’t prevent these ag spills from happening altogether, they should, at the very least, hold someone accountable. Hopefully, for the drivers who fail to properly secure their loads, drive carelessly and often leave the scene of the spill, this will be a wake-up call of sorts. That is especially true for repeat offenders, since the ordinance calls for the doubling of fees if a driver is responsible for more than one spill within a calendar year.
Apparently, this is a much-needed addition, since the same man with the same trucking company — Nickey Hall of Rowland, with GTN Logistics — was cited for both a Jan. 27 spill in Roseboro and an Aug. 15 spill in Clinton.
If he and his company have to pay double the fine, that may cause them to be a little more careful in the future, lest they have to spend hundreds more dollars.
The county’s action follows Clinton Mayor Lew Starling’s efforts last year to vamp up the city’s ordinances and fines. In October, Starling promised that the city would enact heftier fines and begin issuing misdemeanor citations when these spills occur. A violation would result in a Class 3 misdemeanor and the driver receiving a fine up to $500.
Starling has been particularly vocal about the spills and their negative impacts on not just Clinton, but the entirety of Sampson County. And with the most recent spills occurring outside the city limits and within the county, it’s entirely feasible that Clinton’s tougher approach has done some good. Now, we hope that the county’s new measures will be just as successful, and we can finally nip this problem in the bud for good.