By CANDACE MIERS

Contributing Editor

KFC bags, Coke cans, cigarette butts and other kinds of litter on the roadside will soon be a thing of the past in Lincoln Parish.

The Lincoln Parish Police Jury and the Lincoln Parish Sheriff's Department are working together on an anti-litter campaign titled "Litter Lincoln and It Will Hurt."

"I wanted to discuss drugs and crime, but when I would walk up to people on the street, they would say, 'Mike, you need to do something about litter,'" Mike Stone, Lincoln Parish sheriff, said.

So, the new sheriff in town decided to pursue the litter problem.

Stone said there will be two phases of the campaign.

The first phase includes educating the public on the littering laws by telling them what they can and cannot dump at dumpsters, as well as informing them on what is and is not acceptable at landfills.

The second phase, also know as the "get-tough" phase, focuses on stronger enforcement of laws dealing with debris along road.

It also will establish a litter court with litter fines which Stone said will be higher than most think.

"The fact is it is against the law to litter, and if people choose to do it anyway, there will be consequences," Stone said.

Police Jury member Bobby Dowling said some consequences will be stiff fines and punishment associated with littering.

The fines will help Louisiana to save more money.

Research shows that in Louisiana more than $14 million each year is spent on removing litter from roadways.

It also shows littering decreases property value and increases health risks because garbage attracts disease-carrying rodents.

Dowling said research also shows those who litter are typically younger people who know they are engaged in socially unacceptable or illegal behavior.

"Littering is a selfish act," Dowling said. "It is also a rebellious act."

The campaign's effort may fall on deaf ears.

"People who litter in the first place, I doubt, listen to campaigns on littering," Kevin Allen, a junior biology education major, said.

Allen said targeting those who litter regularly might be a waste. Despite some of those people who engage in the egotistical act of littering, Dowling said Lincoln Parish has earned a reputation for being a clean and safe place.

"The Lincoln Parish Sheriff's Department and Police Jury are working to keep it that way through the 'Litter Lincoln and It Will Hurt' campaign."