One would think that citizens of Adams County would appreciate the natural beauty of our area more than many apparently do.

But unfortunately trashy folks are in our midst. And we’re not just talking about a person’s reputation at the beauty shop. We mean garbage, tons of it scattered all over the county. Almost every road has some litter, but many roads have lots of it.

On Monday an officer from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife and Fisheries came before the Adams County Board of Supervisors looking for help in cleaning up the litter and enforcing the laws that are meant to keep trashy people from junking up our county. And of course the supervisors and even the sheriff vowed their support.

But honestly neither can likely do much to prevent litterbugs.

They can threaten prosecution if caught; they can go out and embark on an anti-litter campaign. Each is well-intentioned and might do a tiny bit to prevent the unsightly mess.

But the only person who can actually prevent littering is you, or more specifically, all of us. The best way to rid the world of trashy people is simply to change our lifestyle.

It sounds simplistic, but don’t throw things out the window. Take things to landfills instead of a nearby dead-end street.

And perhaps the most important thing each of us can do is to be assertive about protecting our county from the trashy folks. Stop the next person you see tossing some discarded item to the side. Urge them to pick it up and dispose of it properly. If the trashy folks resist, then spend the time to pick it up yourself.

In the long run, we only have one planet on which to live, so we all need to treat it carefully and tread lightly upon its surface.

When you take a break from the daily grind and look around, you see we live in a pretty special spot on mother earth – let’s keep it that way.