LEBANON, Tenn. (WTVF) — Sadly, it's now part of the Tennessee landscape.
Illegal dumping is a blight on the beauty of the state.
And, there is apparently no limit to what people will throw out on the side of a road.
Eighteen twin mattresses were dumped on the shoulder of Tuckers Gap Road in Lebanon.
"Good grief. Why would anyone do this? it's just laziness. It's disgusting," said Michele Wilson Cooper, who drives regularly along this stretch of road.
The mattresses were likely dumped after dark sometime over the weekend.
"What about the person who dumped these? Nothing but contempt? Scum," said Cooper.
The mattresses are of different makes so may have been hauled away from a variety of locations. Typically, there's a fee for large loads like this at dumps.
So, often unscrupulous haulers will illegally ditch the waste and pocket the dump fee.
Randy Hall with Lebanon Public Works sees it all too often, but not quite like this.
We called to describe the scene.
"We are out here standing by the shoulder of the road and someone dumped 18 mattresses on the shoulder," we said.
"You kidding?"
There are no obvious identifying marks or labels on the mattresses.
Police will try to trace the solid waste back to the person who dumped it, but it's rare they ever make an arrest.
Halls just wishes people would dispose of this waste properly.
"You can take these things to the county landfill," he said.
So what's to come of all these nasty old mattresses?
Public works has been notified and they'll be out here to take them where they will be legally disposed of.
If you witness someone illegally dumping — report it.
In Tennessee it is a Class A Misdemeanor and up to $2,500 fine.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
