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LANETT — At Monday’s meeting of the city council, Mayor Jamie Heard presented good citizenship certificates to a Lanett couple for doing an exemplary job of having an attractive home and yard and to an anti-littering warrior who picks up litter off the street three or four times every week.

Ralph and Barbara Cullwell live off Gilmer Avenue on Kroger Block and work tirelessly to keep up an attractive home.

Edward Patten has been a very helpful volunteer for the Lanett Restoration Committee.

“I wish more people would follow his example,” said Mayor Heard, “but the main thing is that people should not litter in the first place. You should care more about your town and your neighbors than to just throw trash out the window of your car. If nothing else, keep a plastic bag in your car and put your trash in it when you are out driving around. You can empty it in your trash can when you get home or live it in a trash receptacle at a convenience store. Just don’t throw it on the street.”

Restoration Committee Chairman Steve Wheeler talked to the council about putting up a “Welcome to Lanett” sign on Highway 29 just off I-85. The Chambers County Development Authority is working on a grant to do this. Members of the council were shown a conceptual design of such a sign. Having such a sign at the most-traveled spot in the city would be a way of making a statement that we are proud of or town and we want to treat you right.

There’s some irony in the fact that West Point no longer has a Gilmer Avenue but Lanett does. What was once known as Gilmer Street in West Point is now West 3rd Avenue. The original name honors George R. Gilmer, who was governor of Georgia from 1829 to 1831 and from 1837 to 1839. He also served multiple terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In the 1890s, Gilmer Avenue in West Point was extended across the state line into Alabama to have a main route to Lanett Mill and the Lanett Bleachery & Dye Works. In 1895, the Chattahoochee Valley (CV) Railway connected West Point, Lanett, Langdale and River View by rail. At the outset, it ran alongside Gilmer Avenue in front of the dye works and mill. Gilmer Avenue later became a portion of US Highway 29 when it was created in 1927.