Today's Opinions

It became apparent to me after reading Lisa King’s article published in The Sentinel-News  (“County trashing pickup plan?” April 19) that she and I were not at the same meeting.  I attended and spoke at the meeting and feel I need to clarify several discrepancies Ms. King reported in her article about the unpopular, proposed, mandatory or government franchised countywide garbage/recycling pickup the county wants to force upon its citizens.

If you’ve ever run a marathon, thought about running a marathon or watched someone you love run one, you understand the pain. You see those faces and those strides mere yards from the finish line. You see happiness and even tears struggling past unrelenting physical torment. You sense the adrenalin that is coursing, grasp that the last possible bits of energy are being summoned. Joy is rising and overtaking pain. The finish line is the joy line. The finish is the ecstasy after the agony.

With two important meetings this week among officials trying to develop curbside garbage pickup in Shelby County, the mission statement for this project has emerged from the man whose public meetings gave this concept momentum.

That would be Rusty Newton, chair of the 109 Board, the entity that is in charge of solid-waste pickup in the county. This is what Mr. Newton told officials last week when they gathered to discuss a joint contract between the Shelbyville City Council and Shelby County Fiscal Court: