There have been several high-profile events in and around Great Bend of late, ranging from the Great Bend Farm and Ranch Expo to the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball and softball tournaments. These have brought scores of folks from out of town into our fine community.

But, we must all remember the old adage “you don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression.”

Much has been done by the City of Great Bend and businesses to beautify the entrances to town. Our downtown Square is one of the most attractive business districts around. 

There is also an effort to remove dilapidated buildings and clean up rundown properties.

However, one aspect of our community’s appearance often gets overlooked. To see an example of this, one just has to take a slow drive or bike ride down West Barton County Road near the Expo Complex.

There, one will find ditches filled with bags of trash. This is household waste, such as diapers, food packages, bottles and things one might not want to look too closely at.

What kind of a sick individual would just dump their trash along a road out in plain sight? 

There are reports of Barton County employees having to clean up illegal dump sights and replace vandalized road signs. These folks have plenty of other real work to do besides having to clean up after a bunch of lazy slobs.

If you are one of these slobs, shame on you. Take some pride in where you live.

For the rest of you, keep up the good work. We have a beautiful city that, despite a few rotten apples, is a great place to live.

Dale Hogg