By Chester Moore, Jr
Adams Bayou has always been full of abandoned boats.
Over the years I learned to navigate around the ones that had sunken to the bottom and become navigational hazards and was always shocked by the amount of new ones not only there but in all of the tributaries of the Sabine south of Interstate 10.
Sometime around the year 2000 a group of young anglers from the Cove area of Orange started hauling sunken boats, barges and planks to Kenny Pigg’s property in West Orange. Bordering the bayou it served as a great place to collect the debris but there was one problem: what to do with it.
“We contacted the City of West Orange and Mayor Roy McDonald and they were happy to take out pick them up and aid with the efforts to clean up our local waterways,” Pigg said.
Recently, West Orange officials picked up the 58th boat from Adams Bayou.
“West Orange has a lot of Adams Bayou frontage and we know that area as very important for local fishermen, boaters and nature lovers. It is important we keep them safe and clean for everyone to enjoy,” McDonald said.
The cleanup efforts go above and beyond what the city has to do but McDonald said they are all about helping out everyone.
“We have beautiful bayous and these boats are an eyesore and a danger so we want to help the people who use the bayous whether they are from West or from anywhere else,” he said.
Public Works Supervisor Lee Houghton said the city will continue aiding in the cleanup as boats are brought in.
“We’re glad to have concerned citizens like Mr. Pigg who keeps the boats on his property until we get them and who will take their own time and energy to identify and haul them out,” he said.
I have personally collided with several freshly sunken boats and other debris in that system over the years. I know many others who have and report the same thing in the bayou systems of Jefferson and Chambers Counties, particularly after Hurricane Ike.
It is time we all work together to keep our bayous safe and clean.
