A Baker County resident told county commissioners Wednesday morning, April 16, that he’s frustrated by the “terrible, terrible trash” that falls from vehicles driving to the Baker Sanitary Service landfill a few miles southeast of town, posing a potential threat to other drivers.

Ed Trindle, a rancher who lives on Old Highway 30, the county road that makes up most of the route from Baker City to the landfill, told commissioners “I want to know why in the heck nothing has happened” about the issue.

He said he has talked with commissioner Christina Witham about the recurring problem.

Trindle told commissioners that if nothing is done, one of three things will happen:

• He and other residents will pick up trash and “dump it on your lawn.”

• He will ask commissioners to resign.

• He will file a lawsuit against the county and commissioners.

“This is an accident waiting to happen out there,” Trindle said. “Somebody’s going to get hurt.”

He told commissioners he has seen, among other debris on the road, “big limbs,” barrels, couches and chairs.

Trindle said he broached the topic with the county about two months ago. He said he thinks that’s enough time “to come up with some kind of plan.”

Witham told Trindle that she has talked with the county parole and probation department about the possibility of having a community service crew pick up some of the trash.

Sheriff Travis Ash told commissioners that the county can’t require what types of community service people do, and that there are other options besides picking up roadside trash.

“We’ll do what we can,” Ash told Trindle. “I understand your frustration.”

Commission chairman Shane Alderson told Trindle that he has talked with officials at the Powder River Correctional Facility about the potential to have a crew of inmates pick up trash along Old Highway 30.

Alderson said the county road department would have to provide traffic control for a work crew.

Valeria Pimentel, institution work program coordinator at Powder River, the minimum security prison in Baker City, said prison officials are working on agreement to have a work crew do litter patrol along Old Highway 30, for no charge.

“We don’t have a set start date yet,” Pimentel wrote in an email to the Baker City Herald.

Both Ash and Witham recommended that Trindle not consider dumping trash on anyone else’s property.

“I’m not upset at you,” Trindle told Witham.

Trindle said he understands that the source of the problem is people who don’t take the time to retrieve items that fall from their trucks or trailers.

He noted that nobody could possible not realize that a large item — Trindle mentioned a refrigerator — had fallen from their load between their home and the landfill.

“Some people have no respect,” he said.

Trindle thanked commissioners for hearing his concerns and discussing potential solutions.

“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “If nothing does, I’ll be back here.”