The Town of Boykins will hold our 38th Annual Christmas Parade on Sunday, December 9, 2012, at 3:00 P.M. This year's parade is sponsored by GFWC Tarrara Woman's Club, Boykins Lions Club, and the Town of Boykins. The parade route runs from the Tarrara Creek bridge on Route 35 down Main Street to Johnson Street, and will circle back down Main Street by way of East Street and Beaton Avenue. For more information or to register for the parade, contact Linda Beatty at (757) 654-6562.
After the parade, our annual Decorate the Christmas Tree event will be held in the Buck Lassiter Mini Park on Virginia Avenue at 5:00 P.M.
Residents and businesses in Boykins, Branchville, Newsoms, Drewryville and the Edgehill subdivision can expect $2-a-month increases in their sewer and water bills as part of Southampton County’s new $52 million budget. Customers of Courtland’s sewer system can expect the same increase; the Town of Courtland bills for water. All increases will go into effect on July 1.
The base fee for water will be $26 a month, up from $24, or 8.3 percent, and sewer $34, up from $32, or 6.3 percent. The same increases for water and sewer bills will go into effect for Southampton Business Park outside Courtland behind Food Lion and the Turner Tract industrial Park off Rose Valley Road.
The utility increases are expected to generate a little over $50,000, said County Administrator Mike Johnson. The new $200 garbage fee will go into effect on July 1 and is expected to generate $1.34 million.
Kitty Lassiter can’t remember when she started recycling and makes sure to promote it every opportunity possible.
“I don’t throw anything away that can’t be recycled,” the Boykins woman said.
She takes advantage of a two- to three-year-old curbside-recycling program that provides free 95-gallon, wheeled plastic containers to residents in Boykins, Courtland, Scottswood and Cypress Manor, said Hart Council, director of public works for Southampton County.
A.V.E.S. of Smithfield picks up items every second Friday at no cost to residents, Council said.
Lassiter is among 103 participants in the program in Boykins, which saved the county $8,000 in landfill fees during the first year, said Mayor Spier Edwards, who also serves on the Southampton County Litter Control Council.
John Jenkins, litter control coordinator for the county, said the recycling program is much simpler than it used to be.
“You can put everything in the bin,” Jenkins said. “It does not have to be separated, just dumped into the bin. Every other week, just haul it to the curb. It’s just about as user-friendly as it gets.”
