If you think Emanuel County looks a little cleaner this week, you are absolutely right. The “Keep Emanuel Beautiful” troops rose early this past Saturday morning. In the group’s first organized assault on the county’s litter problem, “clean teams” fanned out along the highways and byways filling bag after bag with roadside trash. This grassroots effort has come together in pretty short order under the leadership of County Commission Chairman Jim Sherrod and Commissioner James Canady along with the help of County Administrator Guy Singletary. After a public “exploratory” meeting less than two months ago, the group got organized, established an objective, and put plans into motion to make the mission of cleaning up Emanuel County a reality. Given the track record of some governmental bodies nowadays, two months to get something accomplished seems a little like a Disney fairytale, but on Saturday morning, more than 50 citizens showed up simply because they believed something could be done about a nasty little problem. That’s good for the appearance of our county, but it’s even better for illustrating how our community can identify problems and solutions and effect change. That sounds like a good recipe for good government, doesn’t it? Now naturally, every issue may not always be simple. Even with litter, there will be different ideas about the most effective ways to move ahead. But the single most important idea is simply to just keep moving ahead. If government was always required to do that by the people, who knows what might really get done? That sounds like a Disney movie with a real happy ending. We need more of those. At any rate, thanks to all the real-life heroes who gave up their Saturday morning to do the right thing for their community. Now, let’s make sure this story stays in focus and attracts more and more heroes to join in Keeping Emanuel Beautiful. We’re off to a good start, with a good idea. Let's keep moving!
