It's been said one man's trash is another man's treasure. I can only guess that was said by someone who had never been to a yard sale.

I used to get dragged to yard sales by my parents, who did believe this popular adage. We'd hit five yard sales on a Saturday morning and only once did I ever want to buy any of that junk. It was a bouncy ball marked for 25 cents. 

My dad, always the haggler, wanted to know if the guy would take a dime. The guy wouldn't budge and my dad was forced to shell out a whole quarter so I could bounce this ball and have some mild entertainment while enduring the other three yard sales on our list that day.

I've come to the realization that most people tend to collect a lot of stuff. It's great at first and then the stuff gradually becomes junk. Then it's time to throw it away or haul it outside and have a yard sale to see if anyone else is interested in buying our junk.

For the folks who opt to throw away their junk, we have the luxury of convenience centers. These are amazing places where we can take all the stuff we don't want and be done with it.

The two convenience centers in Morrison and Smartt Station have received a lot of recent attention and county officials are looking to combine the two centers in one location in what will be The Greatest Dump of All Time.

This is an idea I stand firmly behind. People tend to be fascinated by things that are big, like the World's Largest Ball of Twine.

Would anyone travel to see a ball of twine that's normal size? Probably not.

Think about the monster-sized gas station called Buc-ee's that recently opened in Crossville. People seem to love it because it's so ridiculously large.

I like the idea of a really large convenience center where I can feel comfortable throwing all my junk and where there is ample room for recycling too. A giant convenience center that consolidates the Morrison and Smartt Station centers into one is an idea worth pursuing.

The McMinnville-Warren County Industrial Development Board pretty much put the smackdown on placing such a center inside Mt. View Industrial Park on Thursday. Board members showed no interest in relaxing a policy that keeps garbage centers out and I think that's the proper stance. The industrial park should be for industry and not for trash dumps.

But I think county officials are on the right track in their quest to construct the biggest and greatest dump in Tennessee. We need another big trash facility to take pressure off the one at the fairgrounds and we need to ramp up our recycling efforts for sure.

There's only so much junk people are going to buy at yard sales. Some of it has to go in landfills. I'm confident county officials will find a great spot for a fabulous new convenience center other than the industrial park.

Standard editor James Clark can be reached at 473-2191.