 CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS OF ALL ROADSIDE PRIDE AWARD WINNERS
More than 5,000 volunteers picked up 20,000 bags of trash along roadsides last fall, just as tourists were traveling to see the colorful foliage of southern and eastern Kentucky. In October 2006, 5,493 volunteers donated 13,534 hours to pick up litter. They collected 20,095 bags of trash, 1,654 old tires and 620 junk appliances along 1,972 miles of the region’s roadsides.
These results of the fourth annual Roadside PRIDE competition were announced Jan. 29, 2007, at The Center for Rural Development in Somerset by the event sponsor, Eastern Kentucky PRIDE. The nonprofit organization provided cleanup supplies to volunteers and reimbursed local governments for their trash disposal expenses.
PRIDE presented trophies today to the counties and cities that won the friendly, month-long competition. They earned points for the number of volunteers they recruited, number of road miles cleaned and amount of trash collected. They competed in population-based classes, with Class 1 being for the smallest populations.
The counties that won Roadside PRIDE awards were:- Class 1, 1st Place - Owsley County (third consecutive award)
- Class 1, 2nd Place - Wolfe County (third consecutive award).
- Class 2, 1st Place - Jackson County (first-time winner).
- Class 2, 2nd Place - Adair County (second consecutive award).
- Class 3, 1st Place - Johnson County (second consecutive award).
- Class 3, 2nd Place - Clay County (first-time winner).
- Class 4, 1st Place - Floyd County (first-time winner).
- Class 4, 2nd Place - Laurel County (second consecutive award).
The award winning cities were:- Class 1, 1st Place - City of Allen (first-time winner).
- Class 1, 2nd Place - City of Livingston (fourth award).
- Class 2, 1st Place - City of Lynch (third award).
- Class 2, 2nd Place - City of Benham (first-time winner).
- Class 3, 1st Place - City of Mt. Vernon (only city or county to win 1st Place in its class four consecutive years).
- Class 3, 2nd Place - City of Cumberland (second consecutive award).
- Class 4, 1st Place - City of Columbia (first-time winner).
- Class 4, 2nd Place - City of Pikeville (third award).
Cash awards were presented to the county and city that cleaned the most miles within one of the region’s three National Scenic Byways. Pike County earned the $1,000 award by cleaning 56 miles along U.S. 23, which is the Country Music Highway. The City of Mt. Vernon received $1,000 for cleaning 31 miles along U.S. 25, which is part of the Wilderness Road Heritage Highway. The cash awards were sponsored by TOUR Southern and Eastern Kentucky (TOUR SEKY), a nonprofit organization that promotes tourism in the region.
“Keeping our roads litter free is one of the easiest ways to improve the appearance of our region,” said Congressman Hal Rogers (KY-5), who founded both PRIDE and TOUR SEKY. “Through joint efforts like Roadside PRIDE, we are making our region cleaner and more prosperous. I encourage everyone to build on this momentum and help keep our roads clean in 2007.”
“Roadside PRIDE taps each community’s competitive spirit to beautify the roads that connect us,” said Richard Thomas, PRIDE Executive Director. “Neighboring communities have fun ‘talking trash’ with each other, the top performers take home trophies, and we all benefit from cleaner roadsides.”
“It is important for our region to work together to make this area as enticing to visitors as we can. We have unmatched natural beauty in our region of Kentucky that we are very proud to showcase to our visitors,” said Vicki Kidd, President/CEO, TOUR SEKY.
The PRIDE initiative promotes Personal Responsibility In a Desirable Environment in 38 counties of southern and eastern Kentucky. Rogers and the late James Bickford, former Secretary of the Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet, started PRIDE in 1997 to provide government resources to citizens as they worked to clean up the region’s environment. PRIDE is funded by grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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