By Betsy Finklea
James “Hoghead” Campbell cares about the community so when discussion arose recently about the cleaning of St. Mary’s Cemetery in the Newtown area, he knew that he needed to take action.
Campbell was aware that Judge Paul Burch had issued an order against using county equipment and personnel for the purpose of maintaining any cemetery which has been used for human burial within the prior ten years. St. Mary’s has had burials within the past year.
Out of respect for Judge Burch’s order, he decided to personally take it upon himself to clear the trash from the cemetery.
Campbell is a county employee, however, serving as the new Dillon County Litter Control Officer so he checked with Judge Burch to see if he took the day off and used his own personal time if he could clean the trash. Since this is private property, he also contacted the property owners to see if they had any objection to him clearing the trash. They did not.
So on Monday morning of this week, Campbell took the day off, brought the crew from his car wash with him to the cemetery who he personally paid, used his own truck and his own trailer, and cleared the trash from the cemetery.
Chairs, bed mattresses, vinyl siding, and old types of trash were removed by Campbell and his crew.
It took two large loads to the landfill and a few hours to clear the trash out.
Campbell said while they cleared the trash out, they did not mow the cemetery due to the fragility of some of the gravesites and any legal issues that might be incurred should a gravesite cave in or be damaged in any way. However, the clearing of the trash has made a great impact on the cemetery’s overall appearance.
In his official capacity as Litter Control Officer, Campbell wants to send a clear message.
If you dump trash and can be associated with the dumping of that trash, you will be held responsible.
