HAZARD – Perry County has garnered yet another award for its efforts in clearing litter and cleaning the environment.

The Roadside Pride award was presented to Judge-Executive Denny Ray Noble and Perry County PRIDE Coordinator Rosa Couch this month, which awarded efforts to recruit volunteers and pick up the most litter in the fall roadside cleanup last October. The roadside cleanup took place in 38 counties in the southeastern Kentucky region.

Many of the hours worked in Perry County were by community service workers provided by the Perry District and Circuit courts, Noble said, which was supervised by Higgins Blair. Along with those workers, the volunteers were able to clear a large amount of litter from the county.

“I want to personally thank every volunteer that helped clean the county up,” said Noble. “Working together makes a lot of difference.”

This most recent award made the fifth in the past six years for Perry County.

Clearing the county of illegal dumps and the roadways of litter has been one of Judge Noble’s top priorities in the past few years, and he noted in his office last week that its more important now than ever due to efforts to make the region a tourist destination.

“No one’s going to come to Eastern Kentucky to ride our ATV trails, or they’re not going to bring jobs here unless you keep your county clean,” Noble said. “I think the cleaner you keep your county, the healthier it is.”

According to a press release from the PRIDE organization, Perry County recruited 330 volunteers who donated 1,598 hours to clean 129 miles of roads. Volunteers with the county also removed 1,943 bags of trash, eight tires, and four appliances from ditches.

Perry County has also won several Spring Cleanup awards for volunteer participation, and Judge Noble was also awarded an Envi for his efforts in past cleanups.

The 2009 PRIDE Spring Cleanup will take place next month, and Judge Noble is asking for volunteers to help keep the county clean.

“We’d like to have all the volunteers we could get,” he said. “The more help we get, the better we are.”

Funding for counties from the PRIDE organization has taken a hit in the past two years, and this year the Perry County Fiscal Court will be funding the community cleanup. PRIDE will be paying for the disposal of the litter from the roadways, but the county will be picking up the tab in providing roll offs for drop sites. Judge Noble said he thanks Rep. Hal Rogers for his efforts to begin the PRIDE program and the annual cleanups, and the county will continue with the program whenever possible.

“I want to thank Congressman Rogers for helping us get this PRIDE cleanup started,” he said. “It’s very important we keep our county clean. A lot of people don’t have places to dispose of their garbage, but in Perry County we’re going to continue to do that and continue to keep Perry County clean.”

But as the PRIDE organization has cut funds and cleanups in other counties could be in jeopardy, Noble noted that this year’s effort in Perry County will be for Perry County residents exclusively as the county can’t afford to take litter from other counties as well.

“We’re going to take the people out of Perry County only,” Noble said. “It’s going to be tough to come up with the money to continue to do that.”

Perry County PRIDE Coordinator Rosa Couch noted that the 2008 PRIDE Spring Cleanup will take place April 18-26. Several drop sites will be made available throughout the county in the same locations as last year’s cleanup, but there will be a change or two in this year’s efforts. The county will not be accepting tires for disposal, and garbage will only be accepted from Perry County residents.

For more information, or to volunteer for this year’s PRIDE Spring Cleanup, Perry County residents call call Rosa Couch at 439-0149. For a list of local Spring Cleanup events, please visit www.kypride.org and click Perry County on the map.