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Perry County Commissioners signed a resolution recently creating an Adopt-A-County-Road program.
Commissioner Jay Wengert said he’s excited to see it come to fruition.
“I’d heard of counties doing it and wondered how come Perry County didn’t,” Wengert told the Republic-Monitor, “and then I was approached by Roy Lohmann, who asked me if such a thing existed. I said no, but I sure wished we had one.”
After doing some research with commissioners from other counties, Wengert formed a plan.
“We talked about it and deputy county clerk Amanda Layton put some things together. It took a little while, but we got it going.”
The driving force behind what’s being billed as a county beautification program, the Lohmann family adopted Perry County Road 502 in memory of Todd Lohmann, a local farmer and father of three who died unexpectedly in December 2018 at the age of 48, leaving behind his wife, Cindy, and three daughters, Grace, Lydia and Norah.
Lohmann was the son of Roy and Virginia Lohmann.
Cindy said it was the perfect way to honor her husband’s memory.
“Todd was a person who made sure to return everything he borrowed,” she said, “and he always told us that whatever we did in life, that our job was to leave things better than we found them.”
“This is wonderful,” Roy Lohmann said. “We can’t thank Commissioner Wengert enough.”
The group held their first round of trash pick up along Perry County Road 502 on Oct. 27. Jennifer Fulmer, a younger sister of Lohmann’s shared her sentiments about the day in a social media post.
“Spent a few hours with special people cleaning up PCR 502 today,” she wrote. “We’ve adopted the road in memory of my brother. He made sure we had beautiful weather for it.”
In addition to family, several former classmates and close friends were inspired to participate in honoring Lohmann’s memory. Lee and Pam Woods, along with Derek and Linda Chappius were on hand the day the Perry County Commission signed the order into effect.
“We knew there wasn’t anything like this available in Perry County,” Lee Woods said when the group gathered to commemorate the start of the new program, “I went to Todd’s dad, and said we should do something special in his memory.”
Although the Lohmanns are the first family participating in the Adopt-A-County-Road Program, the county commission hopes to see grow over the years, and they have made it simple for organizations to participate.
According to the order signed into effect last month, groups who want to sign up for the program do so through the Perry County Road and Bridge Department, which will provide participants with safety information, instructions and trash bags.
Groups that want to adopt a road must agree to a three-year contract, pick up trash four times a year, and cover at least one mile of Perry County Roadway. Organizations that have picked up trash two times (twice in 6 months) will be awarded a road sign paid for and installed by Perry County acknowledging their efforts.
For more information on the Perry County Adopt a County Road program, contact Bruce Orman at the Perry County Road and Bridge Department at (573) 547-6269.
