The Athens City Council took a step to help clean up city yards and driveways during Monday’s meeting.

The Council unanimously approved a city ordinance banning the placement of unsolicited publications of any type into people’s yards or driveways. This includes newspapers, flyers, political materials and advertisements.

According to City Attorney Shane Black, any unsolicited materials being passed out, whether they be political, commercial or something else, must be placed on the porch, set by the nearest front door, attached to a front door, put through a mail slot or put between an exterior door like a screen door and the front door of homes. He said placement in a distribution box if available or leaving the item with the homeowner is also permitted.

“You can’t just throw it off in the front yard,” he said.

Black said the ordinance will go into effect July 1, and anyone throwing unsolicited publications into city yards or driveways will be subject to being “ticketed, fined or brought before a municipal judge.”

Black clarified this ordinance does not ban the placement of solicited materials, or items expected by the resident, in yards or driveways. He used The News Courier as an example, given the history of newspapers across the country being thrown into yards to subscribers.

“If I have a subscription to The News Courier, and The News Courier throws it out into my yard, that’s fine,” he said. “That’s not an unsolicited item, because I subscribe to them. I want the Courier thrown out into my driveway. That does not apply to (the ordinance).”

Council member Frank Travis asked Black to clarify whether or not the ordinance also pertains to political materials like campaign flyers, which Black confirmed, noting those seeking office do not generally leave items in resident’s yards.

“You know you don’t just throw flyers into the azaleas, you go and put them on the door or something like that,” Black said. (This ordinance) does not disrupt that at all.”

Trash talk

The issue of unsolicited publications turning into litter at city residences was brought to the attention of the Council during the April 26 meeting.

Keep Athens-Limestone Beautiful Executive Director Leigh Patterson and two concerned citizens said a company from Huntsville was leaving unsolicited newspapers in city driveways.

Resident Dale Rybick said she likes to walk her dog down Norton Drive, but she keeps seeing “terrible amounts of trash,” so one day, she decided to begin picking up the litter down the road.

“The worst things seem to be these (newspapers from Huntsville) that are thrown into every driveway, and a lot of people don’t pick them up,” she said. “They just leave them. They don’t look too bad, but after time, they are an eyesore. It’s just a mess, and I am offended that someone is allowed to just toss out trash.”

Resident Kellie Pennington said there is “no substance” to the unsolicited newspapers being thrown out.

“Apparently, they are getting paid for these advertisements, because that’s all that is in them, wrapped in fluff, being called ‘freedom of the press,’” she said. “I did email them, I was pretty aggressive in it, and I haven’t received one since.”

Rybick said many people leave the unsolicited newspapers where they have been tossed out. She brought examples of two newspapers that had been sitting in a yard for around a month to show how they deteriorate when left exposed to the elements.

“Why are they allowed to just dump this out with no plan for retrieval if the family member doesn’t want it?” Rybick said. “They have a number I have called twice, but they are still dumping it in my driveway even though I’ve tried to get them to stop.”

Council member Harold Wales, in response to Rybick, said he has been in the same situation himself with the same unsolicited publication.

“I got involved in this over a year ago,” he said. “I called the (newspaper) and talked with them. They told me over the phone, but then they also had one of their attorneys call me and say, ‘It’s freedom of the press, and you cannot stop it.’”

Wales said he felt the unsolicited newspapers were a nuisance.

Police Chief Floyd Johnson said he was receiving a “large number of complaints” on the issue about a year ago.

On Thursday, Patterson told The News Courier she feels the ordinance is a “definite move in the right direction to help eliminate some of the unnecessary litter in the city limits.”

Enforcement

Wales asked ahead of passing the ordinance how the City would enforce the new law if someone were caught breaking it.

Black said he felt the City should reach out to entities that have been engaging in the practice of placing unsolicited publications in local yards and driveways and “put them on notice” about the effective date of the ordinance.