1-11-12 —     Wayne County Judge-Executive Greg Rankin recently announced that the  

county has been awarded $30,496.28 in state grant funds through the  

Kentucky Office of the Department for Environ-mental Protection.

    The news allows one of the county's best programs to continue  

through 2012.

    "We are very excited to be continuing our litter abatement program  

for this year," stated Rankin. "We obtained over $30,000 to continue  

the very popular roadside cleanup program. We take very seriously the  

challenge of keeping our county beautiful and this grant allows the  

many youth, church and school groups of this community to do just  

that. Wayne County has unmatched scenic beauty and this grant will  

help us continue to work on this very important project, while also  

providing environmental education to our young people in a very hands-

on way."

    The grants were a joint effort of both the Solid Waste Coordinator's  

Office and the Community Development Office.

    "Money continues to be a concern to fund different projects  

statewide, but Community Development continues to work hard to obtain  

any grant funds that are available. I know several groups that  

benefit from the roadside grant, so I'm certainly glad to help anyway  

I can," said Community Development Specialist Shannon Hutchinson.

    The news certainly helps Wayne County PRIDE and Solid Waste  

Coordinator Tim Bell with his continued work in the county.

    "Last year we totaled 427 miles of roadside cleanup and over 2,700  

bags of trash, so that is less than the year before, which shows our  

programs are working. Hopefully through education and continued law  

enforcement those numbers will continue to decrease. If we all  

continue to work together we'll make a difference and a change in our  

environment," said Bell.