SOUTH POINT - This week, the streets of South Point were lined with collapsible furniture, piles of brush and various other forms of trash that residents no longer wanted.

This week those residents will not be fined. In fact, local officials are out in full force to get rid of that trash for South Point's spring cleanup week.

By Monday evening, trash was already piled in the field near the village's old swimming pool as workers from the village, BFI and Lawrence County Municipal Court. Every form of trash except for gas tanks and tires is being picked up. Brush is also included.

"We've been picking it up all week," Mayor Bill Gaskin said.

While some trash was immediately hauled to landfills in Chesapeake and Kentucky, the rest was dumped in the field near the village hall to be bulldozed.

"We've got lots piled up out there," he said. "We'll have a great big pile by the end of the week."

The cleanup days, done once in the spring and again in the fall, have been a mainstay in South Point for more than 20 years, and Gaskin said he believes they have made a difference in the village's landscape.

"It has to be cleaner," he said. "They know we'll come around and haul it away from here. It's a big job, but we started and will continue to do it."

If anyone, particularly the elderly or disabled, wants something hauled away but cannot move it, Gaskin advised calling the mayor's office. Members of the volunteer fire department will move it.

Two weeks ago, Gaskin said he feared that some out-of-towners were taking advantage of the village's services to its residents. So far, he has not heard of anyone being caught. Those

caught would face fines for littering or illegal dumping.

Other municipalities have also conducted recent cleanup days.

This week and the next, Ironton residents can take advantage of the city's spring cleanup in which dumpsters will be available at the city garage at 303 Hecla Street every day until May 4. Dumping will be monitored by city employees. Contractors are not allowed to dump construction waste and no tires or items containing Freon, such as air conditioners, are permitted.

If residents have no way to haul the items themselves, they may call the mayor's office at 532-3833 to be put on a list for

pickup.

The village of Coal Grove had its cleanup earlier this month. Through the program that ended Saturday, residents were able to deposit trash in dumpsters at the village's water treatment plant.