ST. MARTINVILLE - St. Martin Parish officials want to give cigarette litter a kick in the butt.

Keep St. Martin Beautiful is launching a program in conjunction with the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program that hopes to cut back on unsightly discarded cigarette butts. As a result, receptacles specially made for cigarette butt disposal will be popping up all over St. Martin Parish.

The program is funded by a grant from Keep Louisiana Beautiful. A total of $9,400 will be used to purchase about 80 receptacles. KSMB is offering the receptacles to area businesses and especially churches and government buildings at no charge.

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Ken Bordelon, president of Keep St. Martin Beautiful, said the program is definitely needed in the parish.

"Cigarette litter is definitely a growing problem for our parish," Bordelon said. "I support the introduction of this program in St. Martin Parish. We are encouraging business, church and governmental leaders to avail themselves of the receptacles, posters and pockets ashtrays to promote proper disposal of cigarette waste."

The program was developed after Keep America Beautiful found that the most common littered items found in clean up efforts across the United States were cigarette materials such as cigarettes, packaging and lighting materials.

St. Martin Parish Councilman Fred Mills said he is behind the initiative. "I'm excited to have this national program in my own community. It will support our community improvement efforts," Mills said.

Citizens throughout the parish are asked to make full use of the receptacles. Owners and managers of the facilities using the receptacles only have to agree to use the receptacle, which requires little maintenance and disposal.

"If any citizen is aware of an area or building in our parish that could use a receptacle, they may call me and I will attempt to contact the owner, manager or caretaker and offer the receptacle," said Marian Melancon, chairwoman of the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program and executive director of the St. Martinville Chamber of Commerce.

Managers and supervisors of facilities or concerned citizens can call or e-mail Tina Begnaud, executive director of the Breaux Bridge Chamber of Commerce at 332-5406 or BBCC@centurytel.net, Melancon at 394-6220 or mbmtax@cox.net or Jacques Privat, recycling coordinator with St. Martin Parish, at 316-0257 or jprivat@stmartinparish.net.

Privat encouraged local participation in the ongoing clean up efforts of KSMB.

"We want to invite any citizen that wants to be involved in litter abatement to join Keep St. Martin Beautiful to work on a committee as much as they want or as little," he said.