MOUNT VERNON — In Knox County, Joseph Butts is known as “The Tire King.”
It isn’t because he collects tires or owns a tire store.
It’s because of his love for making the county’s rivers cleaner than the day before.
Butts received a resolution from Knox County Commissioners and county Recycling and Prevention program manager Matt Baugher on Saturday, honoring his commitment toward keeping county river’s clean and tire free.
Butts, an avid canoer and Mount Vernon freshman, often takes trips down the Kokosing River. His love for canoes was juxtaposed with his equal passion for cleaning up Knox County and its rivers.
“Joseph Butts is a very respectful young man who excitedly works to keep our rivers clean and enjoyable. Every river cleanup Paddle for Heroes participates in, Joseph pulls in at least one canoe full to the brim with tires and trash,” Paddle for Heroes Treasure Sonya Bollin wrote in a letter to the county commissioners. “Sometimes, he unloads at the midpoint trash pickup and fills it up again!
“I’ve seen him with his canoe so full he had to walk behind and push it to the end because there was no room left for him to sit in it! Joseph is a hardworking young man who never complains and who deserves to be recognized for his service to the community.”
The 15-year-old participates in the annual River Rally litter clean up at the Kokosing River hosted by Knox County Litter Prevention. In those cleanups, Butts would hop into his canoe and start paddling away — looking for trash and tires to clear out of the historic river. Butts’ canoe is often weighed down toward the front due to the tires being heavier than his water mobile.
If Butts saw a tire, he’d suddenly jump out of his canoe and start digging away at the muddy bank, eventually pulling the tire out. He sees it almost as a competition, he says.
That’s how “The Tire King” was born.
“His attitude is nothing short of amazing — to think that a 15-year-old young man cares about his environment so much that he will dive into five feet of water to pull out a tire or a can that someone has thrown into the river,” Paddle for Heroes member Curtis Casto wrote in a letter to county commissioners.
Butts doesn’t plan to stop picking up tires from riverbanks anytime soon, he said. His passion for clearing out rivers and being in the water began with his father and Paddle for Heroes Vice President Joey Butts. Joseph Butts was going out on canoeing trips when he was two and half years old, his father said.
It started with family canoeing trips down the Kokosing River, Joey Butts said.
“His (Joseph) development has been amazing to watch and I not only attribute it to myself and my wife but also the veterans group getting out,” Butts said. “It built his good character(…) because he gets to watch other people who care about the environment and care about veterans.”
The duo, along with Paddle for Heroes, have made a serious dent in cleaning the Kokosing River since 2017, Joey Butts said.
“We started doing the cleanups and the amount of trash we would get was just insane,” he said. “We’d be pulling refrigerators and all.”
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