A sheriff in Vienna, Illinois, promised to take action against semi drivers parking illegally and leaving behind piles of trash.
On March 5, 2025, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department Vienna, IL (JCSD) took to social media with a “Strong Public Service Announcement” to vent frustrations over the way that truckers are leaving behind trash on interstate ramps.
In the post, JCSD promised to conduct enforcement activities targeting illegal truck parking later this month. The agency also asked for “no parking” signs from state transportation officials and for community volunteers to help clean up garbage left behind on interstate ramps.
See the message in full below.
Johnson County Strong Public Service Announcement– As your Sheriff, the past several years I have attempted to get something done with the garbage dumps referred to as our interstate ramps. IDOT does nothing until State Reps are called, IDOC isn’t allowed to use prisoners anymore, and the ISP doesn’t have the manpower to enforce the no parking on the interstate. I have the utmost respect to the essential semi-drivers that got all of us through COVID but today’s new drivers aren’t the same as they used to be. I want to apologize to the experienced semi-drivers that obey the rules and respect our community but we have to take a stand for public health reasons. We cannot continue to have garbage, urine bottles, hypodermic needles, and bags of feces dumped on our roadways. There is plenty of parking at the nearby truck stops now.
On Saturday, March 29, 2025, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office will be enforcing the no parking on the interstate laws. If a driver refuses to move they will be ticketed and towed at their expense. I am asking for volunteers from our community to assist me and our Deputies at 9 am on March 29, 2025, picking up garbage on the side of the interstate ramps. We will supply garbage bags, latex gloves and traffic control. I will also be requesting IDOT to put up “No Parking” signs on the ramps like Metropolis has. No, it’s not my job or the members of our community to do it but someone has to do it, so let’s all pitch in and clean it up on March 29, 2025, at 9am. Just plan on meeting us at the interstate ramp closest to you.
I have edited my post and deleted the part about the drivers not being able to speak English after I was contacted by a local citizen that was offended. It wasn’t meant to be offensive. As most officers who work the interstate know, a lot of drivers are from Eastern European countries and they are driving an 80,000 pound vehicle strictly by following GPS. They don’t know the rules of the road here and it’s almost impossible to communicate to them not to dump trash and park on the ramps. I apologize if my post offended anyone. That wasn’t the intention.
