ABC 10 Investigates Major Illegal Dumping Issue

FORSYTH TOWNSHIP — Forsyth Township has become an epicenter for an issue that’s weighing heavily on the minds of local residents.

“You can’t even go anywhere without seeing it,” said Little Lake resident, Keith “Jack” Jackimowicz. “I’ve got to the point where I snowmobile all the time, hunt and fish, and you can’t go down a side road anywhere in Forsyth Township without seeing this. This is just one road. And it’s not just in one particular area-It’s every end; North South, East and West in Forsyth Township.”

Forsyth Township has become a hub for illegal dumping. Mounds of trash like this are scattered throughout Gwinn, KI Sawyer, Little Lake and the surrounding towns. U.P. native Keith “Jack” Jackimowicz says he’s always known illegal dumping to be an issue in the area, but that the problem has escalated in the last five years.

“You don’t know what’s in it or what kind of garbage it is,” said Little Lake resident, Leroy Lancour Jr. “You don’t want your kids playing in it and I don’t want my kids seeing it either. And I hear it from people from around the area that ask ‘Why is there so much garbage around here?’ and all I say is ‘I don’t know.”

With mounting frustration, locals made their way to the township meeting to discuss the issue in late April. Jack says he and the group of concerned citizens who attended the meeting were met with complacency.

“And they all act like they’re concerned and everything, but when I went to the next meeting on May 18th, there was nothing even mentioned about the garbage,” said Jack. “They don’t care about this. It’s like it doesn’t exist.”

“The people that have come to the meetings and talked, it should not be lost on them that we’re focused on this,” said Forsyth Township Supervisor, Joe Boogren. “We’re approximately a 200 square mile township and we’ve got nine police officers; it’s not like we have officers posted at every square inch of the woods.”

Jack says action needs to be taken to start the discussion of how to solve the issue long-term, not just for the foreseeable future.

“It’s like having a broken water line in your house. If you have a broken water line, you don’t start cleaning up the mess. The first thing you have to do is shut the water off,” Jack said. “They haven’t figured it out in the township how to stop the garbage, but they still want to clean it up.”

“We have to find a way to work with the DNR, work with law enforcement, county and local, and amongst ourselves as leaders of municipalities to come up with a plan that’s consolidated and cohesive that can curb or bring an end to this,” Boogren said.

But this isn’t just an issue isolated in Forsyth-it spans the length of the county and the Upper Peninsula. In an effort to control the dumping, local leaders across Marquette County, Boogren included, are meeting next week to talk about what can be done to fix the issue. Boogren says he is open to ideas, but warns that no matter how good of a plan it is, financial implications restrict the scope of what can be accomplished.

According to Forsyth Township Police Chief, Gordon Warchock, those caught illegally dumping trash will be charged with a misdemeanor littering offence and fees will be imposed by the court system, depending on quantity.