EDITORIAL/No more landfills

A third landfill west of Ridgeland is one too many and it's time for Madison County Board of Supervisors to resist.

Forty years ago, the landfills might have been a good idea that far out of Jackson and a in then-sparsely-populated Madison County.

But fast forward to today, and the garbage is threatening Ridgeland's only path for growth and stinking up south Madison County.

Garbage is a big, big business and the Mafia usually come to mind, so it's no surprise politics have seemingly played a role in the decades-old south Madison County landfill battles.

As it stands now, much of Madison County's garbage is shipped off to Scott County, with only the garbage in the unincorporated areas going to the Little Dixie landfill. Meanwhile, trash from other cities, counties — and possibly even states —?is trucked to Madison County for disposal.

It's not time to build another landfill in Madison County simply to accommodate more trash from other places just so developers can make a few bucks.

The county does receive modest host fees, but the damage done to county roads and infrastructure from heavy hauling will only worsen if a new landfill is approved.

It would be different if we were at capacity now and Madison County had no place to dump its garbage. But that's not the case.

Besides, Madison County is big enough to dump garbage somewhere besides near the center of the population.

Supervisors claim they are bound by the decisions of past boards which compromised — in that they would not oppose any future expansion.

How in the world can that benefit taxpayers in any way? Those kinds of decisions benefit developers and the kingpins of trash.

We shudder to think the county is still bound by some decision Karl Banks made as District 4 supervisor 20 years ago more than likely in order to line his own pockets with cash.

This would be a case worth losing on principle to let the constitutionality get tested all the way to the Supreme Court.

Big Garbage doesn't run Madison County, the people do, and there's no reason the current Board of Supervisors should be intimidated.

Has the character of the neighborhood changed is a big factor in zoning law and an argument can be made here.

Resist a third landfill.