Cottonport conducting clean-up campaign

Property owners who have let the grass grow, an abandoned house fall into ruin or allowed a non-running junked car to sit as "yard ornament" may be getting a letter from Cottonport Town Hall in the near future.

The Town Council discussed the need to get serious about a community-wide cleaning campaign at its meeting on May 18. "We will be going around town to identify properties in need of attention," Mayor Scotty Scott said. "We will send the property owners a letter telling them they need to address the problem or the town will clean it up and send them a bill that they will have to pay."

In another matter, the council set a public hearing for any final amendments to the 2019-20 budget and to discuss the proposed 2020-21 budget. That hearing will begin at 5:30 p.m.June 15, immediately prior to the council's regular monthly meeting.

The council also pro-claimed May 20 as "Bailiff Charlie Jones Day" in Cottonport, in honor of the late Charlie Jones who recently passed away. Joneswas a minister, bailiff, former truck driver for Merrick Construction and Elderwood, former school bus driver and a Cottonport civic leader for many years