To the Editor:

A hearty AMEN to Mr. Steven Fitts’ Dec. 27 letter about closing Dallas County’s transfer stations.

As a pair of senior citizen empty nesters, we simply do not generate enough garbage to warrant the cost of weekly garbage pickup.

One trip to the transfer station every three or four weeks is sufficient, and only costs the price of 16 miles worth of gas and a half-dozen drawstring garbage bags stored in airtight cans.

I’m sure there are many other folks in the same situation, judging by the amount of garbage usually filling the dumpsters at the Highway 41 station.

At face value, closing the transfer stations seems like a back-door approach to mandatory county wide garbage pickup and the resulting boon to the two private collectors now serving our neighborhood.

I would not object to a modest tipping fee, say $1.00 per pickup truckload; but the stated cost of providing the dumpsters at the transfer station certainly is greatly exaggerated.

The stations will still be there processing garbage from the city and private collectors, perhaps a system of allowing individuals to dump on the ground at the “barns” would eliminate the cost of operating the dumpsters and provide a service to old folks on fixed incomes.

I strongly encourage the folks in Dallas County to use this media to demand public hearings on the subject.

Joe Whitacre

Valley Grande