August 19, 2026 - Abuse of precinct dumpsters has forced action to be taken to prevent, and/or capture the identity of those who choose to take advantage of a public service provided by the county.
At the completion of the August 12, 2026, meeting of the Shelby County Commissioners’ Court Roscoe McSwain, Commissioner Precinct 1, advised that individuals have been disregarding posted signs and have been throwing tires away in the dumpster maintained at his county barn.
“You try to help the public and this is what you get, one person keeps trying to mess things up,” said Commissioner McSwain.
Once tires have been thrown away in the dumpster, this requires Precinct 1 employees to remove them before the garbage company will unload the dumpster.
With the addition of high-speed internet to the Precinct 1 barn, surveillance equipment is being installed that will hopefully be a preventative to future abuse; however, in the event someone does add something to the dumpster that is illegal their identity will be known and legal action can then be taken against them.
“The next time this happens and if we get their license plate, or [ID] the person we’re going to seek whatever remedy we can to punish them,” said McSwain.
Continued abuse will likely result in the dumpster no longer being available for the use of the public.
