On Saturday morning, September 17 members of the Key Club from Andalusia High School participated in the 24th Annual Alabama Coastal Cleanup by picking up litter along the shores of Point A at the public park as well as making an inventory of the types of litter retrieved.
Thom Watson, Manager of the Point A Park, thanked the group of volunteers for undertaking such a project, particularly on a Saturday morning after a week of Homecoming activities. Mr. Watson does a good job of keeping the area clean, but litter is always an issue in public areas.
As it was last year for the group, the volunteers agreed that the number one trash problem at the park was cigarette butts. While many obviously don’t consider cigarette butts to be trash—they definitely are. Cigarette butts take a long time to break down, cause choking hazards to wildlife, and the chemicals in the butts are harmful to soil & water animals. This event was sponsored locally by the Andalusia High School Key Club, Youth Ministry of First United Methodist Church of Andalusia, and the Conecuh-Sepulga & Blackwater Rivers Clean Water Partnership.
A group of faithful volunteers met on Monday morning at the Brooklyn Store and Post Office to clean up along the boat landings on the Sepulga River at Bull Slough and at Brooklyn. This group has participated in the Coastal Cleanup since the late 90’s. They filled 12 bags in under two hours.
This year, there were 4 Girl Scout troops participating in the cleanup. They are a much welcome addition to our effort. One troop from Montgomery County worked at the Ida Bell Young Park and 2 troops in Coffee County cleaned up along the Pea River while another troop in Coffee County worked around Lake Thollocco on Fort Rucker.
Another new group this year was the West Florida Hunting Club from Santa Rosa and Escambia County FL. These 8 dedicated gentlemen gathered at the train trestle in Flomaton and proceeded to cleanup household garbage, construction materials, and litter in general.
Again, this year the largest and most amphibious group of volunteers was organized by Jerry Fisher and friends at Century, FL. This group of over 100 cleaned up shore line and channel areas of over 35 miles over a period of 3 days. Areas included Murder Creek, Pollard, Bluff Springs, Burnt Corn Creek, Big Escambia Creek, Little Escambia Creek, Conecuh River (AL) and Escambia River (FL).
The Coastal Clean up is held each year on the third Saturday in September. Garbage bags, gloves, data cards, and t-shirts are provided to each participant. If you are interested in participating in the 2012 event, please contact Janet Wofford at 334-222-3271 or
janetwofford@andycable.com
