Employees of Pullens Auto Salvage and Recycling gave back to their community last week by cleaning up the ditches and roadside along Pullens Road in Carriere.

Thomas Pullens, owner of the company, said the road has been in need of cleanup since Hurricane Katrina, but that he has not previously had the time to coordinate a cleanup effort.

“We wanted things to look better around here. We’re trying to get the neighborhood looking decent,” Pullens said.

Pullens said he used several of his employees to pick up trash and debris left over from the hurricane from the ditches along the length of Pullens Road. During the two-day cleanup, Pullens said the group gathered approximately two 18-wheeler loads of trash and debris.

“We had never just gotten out and done a major cleaning, but we even got these guys to rake the ditches. We wanted to make sure we got everything up,” Pullens said.

Pullens said he knew the work would cause an inconvenience along the road while it was being done, but said he tried to be safe when working.

“I had a flagman and used traffic cones to help with the traffic. I want to apologize to my neighbors for any inconvenience it caused, but we were just trying to be helpful,” Pullens said.

Pullens said he is going to try to continue cleaning the road sides and ditches every couple of weeks in the future to help keep the trash from building back up.