Trash illegally dumped in Abbeville by contractor

Abbeville Police Chief Tony Hardy was not happy Wednesday afternoon when he saw the pile of trash along the road of South Miles Street. Welcome to Yvonne Campbell’s world, who lives across the street from the pile of trash.
Since Saturday, a 100-foot long trash pile of construction debris has been piled along the road waiting for the police jury to pick it up. The only problem with that is the police jury does not pick up construction debris made by contractors.
Out of frustration, Campbell called city officials and the Abbeville Police Department on Tuesday. She wants the debris gone as soon as possible.
The pile of trash sits along the side of the road, near a hurricane fence in front of an empty lot. A construction crew placed the debris within the city’s right-of-way.
Hardy and Abbeville patrolmen and Councilman Wayne Landry were at the site on Wednesday after lunch.
“There is no sense in this,” said Landry.
They also noticed a new pile of trash had been dropped off Wednesday morning.
Chief Hardy is upset with the contractor. Hardy was informed by the workers, who were dumping the material, who told them to drop it off.
According to Chief Hardy, they got their orders from a Lafayette contractor named Larry Blanchet. Hardy was told by the workers that the material came from a job they were doing in Maurice.
The Chief said his department will try to locate Blanchet and have him come pick up his pile of trash. Hardy said he is looking at charging and fining Blanchet for illegally dumping trash in Abbeville.
The Vermilion Parish Police Jury has an ordinance that does not allow any contractor to dump trash along the road.
The police jury has been dealing with the problem of out-of-parish contractors driving into Vermilion Parish and throwing their trash along the road for the police jury to pick up.