Cleanup day a huge success, but 'some took advantage'

A pile of trash that was part of a homeless camp was dragged out of the woods by Corinna Cole and friends. Volunteers picked it up during Lebanon's annual cleanup day on April 21. (Corinna Cole photo)

LEBANON, Maine - Lebanon's Cleanup Day for the most part brings out the best in community members who volunteer their time to rid the town's highways and byways of a winter's worth of roadside debris.

It can also bring out the worst, it seems.

Along with the typical bottles and cans, food wrappers and cigarette butts tossed from unthinking motorists, Lebanon road crews who volunteered their time earlier this month also found some not so typical items this year.

Such as a dozen TVs, car batteries, around 10 upholstered couches and chairs, mattresses, and a treadmill.

Road Commissioner Tom Torno said he and others removed several truckloads of junk from a large pile at the corner of River Road and Indian Lake Shore Drive, which was collected by Corinna Cole and others from a former homeless encampment in nearby woods.

But Torno suspects several others could be working the system, bringing out their own household trash and masquerading it as roadside debris, perhaps to save them a trip to the dump and the money that's charged to leave it there.

Torno said he and other road crew members dragged the treadmill out of a pond and noted he'd been spying it there for a couple of weeks.

He said it's a stretch to imagine that a lot of the stuff road crews picked up - including mattresses, kids' toys and children's playslides - could actually be roadside debris.

"There's no doubt in my mind; this wasn't road trash," said Torno, who added he'd never seen anything like this before.

"This is a new issue," he said.

Deborah Wilson, who organized this year's cleanup, acknowledged during a selectmen's meeting on Thursday that "some took advantage."

Torno said he felt most upset about the private citizens who had volunteered their time and their vehicles to help in the cleanup effort only to be duped into sometimes hauling someone's household trash for free.

To add insult to injury the town was possibly defrauded as residents avoided paying the $5 per TV and $10 per couch dropoff fees the Lebanon Transfer Station charges.