Litter abatement program with city trusties begins

A litter abatement program started on June 13 in Eunice using city jail trusties had collected 97 55-gallon bags of litter as of Monday, city officials report.
Mayor Scott Fontenot said, “I know the first day there were out they picked up 17 bags of trash. That was along Maple, down Park Avenue and they went to the city lake. It is actually going good.”
The St. Landry Parish Solid Waste Commission is providing the city $400 a week to pay for the litter program, Expenses include a city truck, insurance and an officer to accompany three to four city jail trusties working four days a week.
Retired Eunice Police officer John Cormier is overseeing the trusties.
“I think once they get a good routine and hit the bad areas it will make a difference,” Fontenot said.
“If you have a clean city you are going to attract investors. That’s what it is all about. You’ve got to change the image of our city,” he said.
Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot said the officer and trusties work about seven hours a day.
Trusties volunteer to work on the litter program, he said.