Twenty-three inmates from Crittenden County Detention Center will join crews tomorrow as the county road department begins removing limbs along rural roads. With the help of the inmates and industrial-size chippers like those employed by the City of Marion this week, according to Shea Holliman, Class D coordinator for the jail, road crews should begin making a dent in the winter storm debris scattered along 360 miles of county right-of-way.Meantime, Marion City Administrator Mark Bryant said some residents and contractors have been taking undue advantage of the city's ongoing debris removal by placing prunings in piles along curbsides. Bryant said the city is offering free removal of only storm debris from city properties, not cuttings made by residents or contractors to ensure the health of trees.
"We're not picking up pruned trees," he said Friday. "We're supposed to be removing only what fell."
The city administrator said the city has neither the manpower nor reimbursement assurance from FEMA to begin picking up prunings in addition to limbs torn from trees due to the weight of ice from last month's winter storm.
For trimmings pruned from trees or bushes by residents or contractors to reshape damaged foliage, Bryant is asking that such waste be taken to the city or county brush dump on Mill Street and Bridwell Loop, respectively. Dumping is free and can be made around the clock.
