For the last five years, Montana Vista residents had some relief from the piles of trash left from people on the the Fourth of July.
“You could see a bunch of beer bottles — we don’t drink. We have to pick up beer bottles, we have to pick up trash,” says one resident, who spent Tuesday afternoon cleaning up trash.
NewsChannel 9 spoke to a family who drove around the affected area to pick up other people’s mess.
“I’ve been living over here on this area for the last 25 years, and it’s frustrating to pick up the trash that somebody else (left).”
The resident says he wished the people who flocked to the Montana Vista area to celebrate Independence Day, would be responsible enough to clean up after themselves.
Luz Elena Valdez says it made her sad to wake up to the sight of bottles and plastic near her neighborhood. Valdez says she welcomes visitors to celebrate the holiday in her neck of the woods, but she doesn’t appreciate the garbage they leave behind.
“We’ve always had the problem of fireworks in the unincorporated areas. However, this time it’s a lot different simply because there was no ban on the fireworks,” said Sgt. Robert Rojas.
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office sent about 30 inmates from the jail annex to help with the cleanup for about six hours on Tuesday.
“The sheriff felt that it was necessary for us to come out here to make sure that we clean up,” said Sgt. Rojas.
In collaboration with TxDOT, the inmates and probationers filled more than four dumpster trucks with tons of trash.
County Judge Veronica Escobar sent people from her office to help with the cleanup efforts. Judge Escobar tells NewsChannel 9, she did everything she could to keep the fireworks ban in effect. Due to state law, Escobar says she had to lift the ban since the drought index wasn’t high enough.
