By John Brice
Correspondent
In an October 11th, 2024 press release from the Montgomery based civil rights nonprofit organization Southern Poverty Law Center it was announced that their campaign against citizens being arrested for unpaid garbage bills which began with their efforts against the City of Valley had resulted in a similar legal victory in the city of Chickasaw, Alabama.
According to the release, the “SPLC campaign to end prosecution for nonpayment of trash fees began in Valley, Alabama. Between 2004 and 2021, nearly 600 people had been arrested for falling behind on their garbage bills. In 2023, the SPLC successfully persuaded the Chambers County, Alabama, district attorney to stop criminally prosecuting people who fall behind on their garbage bills; to rescind all warrants; and to remit any fines and costs.”
Controversial arrests by the Valley Police Department for unpaid garbage bills set off a media firestorm in late 2022 as the story of 82 year old Martha Louis Menefield being taken into custody was covered by national as well as international news outlets. Updating their latest efforts which began in Valley, the release continued “The city of Chickasaw, Alabama, is working with the SPLC to nol pros (i.e., dismiss) pending criminal charges for delinquent sewer and garbage payments. As a good faith gesture, the city also is agreeing to place a moratorium on new prosecutions for residents who have fallen behind on their garbage and sewage bills.”
In an earlier 2023 press release detailing the successful conclusion of their efforts towards ending Valley’s practice of arresting its citizens for unpaid trash bills, the SPLC had stated “Following an investigation by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Alabama’s Fifth Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office has dismissed all cases involving nonpayment of trash fees in Valley, Alabama. The District Attorney’s announcement ends a practice that has led to hundreds of residents being arrested over the last two decades.
‘I was contacted by the SPLC, read their position on it and I agreed,’ said Mike Segrest, district attorney of Alabama’s Fifth Judicial Circuit. ‘I think if you’re right you’re right, and this was something that was unconstitutional, and it needed to be addressed. So, we felt like it was necessary.”
Providing further context, the release commented “In January 2023, SPLC sent a letter to District Attorney Segrest expressing concern about his office’s practice of criminally prosecuting residents for falling behind on garbage bills. The letter asked Segrest, who took office on January 17, 2023, to dismiss all open charges against Valley residents for nonpayment of garbage bills, exercise his discretion not to prosecute residents in the future and request the district court to waive all outstanding court costs and fees for residents that have been previously convicted of nonpayment.”
