No super powers were needed to help with Operation Pride's cleanup - unless crawling out of bed on a Saturday morning to pick up trash counts.
By JENNIFER LIBERTO
Published October 5, 2003
[Times photos: Maurice Rivenbark]
Hernando High FFA members Karleena Ahrens, 17, left, and Alexandra French, 15, pull weeds at the school during the county's annual cleanup day.
Caitlin Collins, 6, picks up trash Saturday morning with her Brownie troop and others at Delta Woods Park during Operation Pride's countywide cleanup.
Neon-orange vests peeked through the thick foggy mist, as about 20 bleary-eyed Hernando High School ROTC members readied for their Saturday morning mission armed with garbage bags and gloves.
The high schoolers gathered chatting in the school parking lot, but as soon as Col. Jim Crigger barked orders, they fanned out across the campus, diving after paper and plastic bottles.
The group was one of more than two dozen organizations that participated in the county's third annual cleanup day, organized by Operation Pride.
"Some of you go down this way," yelled Crigger, who clearly intended his group to do their dirty work in an organized fashion.
Organizers estimate more than a thousand volunteers, including school groups, clubs, nonprofits and homeowners associations, participated in the grass roots effort to keep the Suncoast's beaches, parks, schools and roadways clean.
Most groups took Saturday morning a little easier than the ROTC contingent, which started promptly at 7 a.m. and cleaned Oak Street from Howell Avenue to U.S. 41 in an hour before conquering the high school grounds.
"We actually look forward to doing this," said Hernando High School sophomore Alexandra French, who was pulling weeds from the garden in front of the school as a part of the FFA (formerly the Future Farmers of America), which had about 10 members participating in the cleanup.
Several veteran volunteer groups participated Saturday, though the groups said they regularly clean their sponsored roadways as frequently as once a month.
"This road is really maintained pretty good," said Ray Wallace, residential supervisor for the New Beginnings Youth Shelter, a quiet but determined group that adopted and regularly cleans Horse Lake Road from Highway 50 to Wiscon Road.
But the BellSouth Pioneers had their work cut out for them. Each month the former telephone company workers comb Mariner Boulevard between Spring Hill Drive and Northcliffe Boulevard. And each worker usually fills a garbage bag pretty quickly, said president Jim Frewin.
The litter is thickest closer to the retail shops and around Springstead High School.
The worst time of year is near the end of the school year, as kids routinely toss papers, notebooks and school books to the ground, Frewin said. But the residential areas of Mariner Boulevard tend to be fairly clean, he said.
"Sometimes you'll luck out and find good things like a dollar or something, but occasionally you'll find bad things like a dirty diaper," Frewin said.
By 11 a.m., the fog had finally cleared, and the cleanup day organized by Operation Pride (principle, recycle, involvement, development and environment) was winding down.
"It was a success. We had more people than we had cleaning up last year," said Greg Myers, an Operation Pride spokesman, as several hundred volunteers gathered at the Jerome Brown Center in Tom Varn Park to enjoy refreshments and to trade tales of the trash-filled morning.
