Sweet Springs student wins anti-dumping poster contest

The winning entry, by Bailey Coyer, for the 2009 Saline County Illegal Dumping Awareness Poster Contest will be featured on front of the upcoming 2009 calendar and on a nearby highway billboard. (Contributed image) [Click to enlarge]

Bailey Coyer, student at Sweet Springs Elementary, received the most votes for her entry in the 2009 Saline County Illegal Dumping Awareness Poster Contest, beating 12 other entries for placement on a local highway billboard and the cover of the calendar featuring entries from the contest.

Coyer will be honored by Saline County Commissioners Becky Plattner, Richard "Dick" Hassler and Norvelle "Brownie" Brown and Sheriff Wally George at the Saline County Justice Facility on Wednesday, Dec. 10, at 8:30 a.m.

Coyer's entry featured two sides of a road, one clean, another dirtied and marked with a sign that read "Dump." Over the landscape was a simple command, "Do not dump."

Other students whose entries will appear in the upcoming calendar are Joe Boson of Gilliam Elementrary, Raven Kaiser of Alexander Elementary, Dana Mikels of Orearville Elementary, Justin Tobin of Calvary Baptist School, Josh Petzoldt of Miami Elementary, Terral McKinney of Sweet Springs Elementary, Taylor Anderson of St. Peter Catholic School, Kendra Crutchfield of Malta Bend and Logan Davis, Isabeth Helgenberger, Abbe Lemmons and Eric Brayman of Bueker Middle School.

The contest was open to all fifth-grade students in Saline County across nine schools.

The entry of each class to the contest was preceded by a presentation from Ruth Anne Parrott, planner of West Central Missouri Solid Waste Management District Region F, who spoke on the dangers posed by illegal dumping, from danger to wildlife to imprisonment and fines to the cost and difficulty of cleaning up an illegal dump site.

Sponsors for the contest include the Saline County Commission, the Saline County Sheriff's Department, West Central Missouri Solid Waste Management District Region F, Pioneer Trails Regional Planning Commission, Marshall Chamber of Commerce, State Farm Insurance Agent Dale Zank and the Missouri Department of Transportation, which operates a program titled No More Trash.

Contact Geoff Rands at marshallreporter@socket.net