Neighbors complain of foul odor in south Fulton County

SOUTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Some south Fulton County residents say a breath of fresh air is getting too hard to come by.

They say their neighborhood smells.

Residents along Roosevelt Highway say they admit it depends on which way the wind is blowing, but they say the odor comes from what has been dubbed as Mount Hobgood. It's no ordinary pile of dirt.

Bobby Stephens told Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen the mountain is no laughing matter.  Residents who live around it, say an odor emanates from it.%

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“To the point where you have to close all your doors and windows. And it still seeps through. It's an awful garbage smell," Raymond Purifoy said.

Purifoy and his neighbors complain the area where the cities of Fairburn and Palmetto, and unincorporated south Fulton County, all come together is too trashy.

"It seems like this has been a designated dump community.  We have several dumps and landfills, and now they're trying to put up another one," Purifoy said.

Waste Management operates the Willow Oak Landfill.

Palmetto Mayor J. Clark Boddie insists it passes state inspections and takes no household trash, only construction material.

A company spokesperson sent a statement to Channel 2 saying:

"We are currently addressing the neighbors' concerns and are taking every opportunity to address the issues."

"I will give them credit. They are really trying to address the problem. But so far, nobody has come up to a workable solution as to what can you put down to stop the smell," Stephens said.

The mayor says the dump takes a good share of drywall. He says when it gets wet and breaks down, it smells.

Neighbors plan to jam the Palmetto City Council meeting next week.

Cox Media Group