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Keeping it beautiful requires your help

By JEREMY HAYES
Published September 11, 2005

Picture sunlight glinting off the white sands. Now picture vibrant green plants poking out from the sand and wrapping their leafy tendrils lovingly around an empty beer can decorated by cigarette butts.

This is, unfortunately, the scenery on many of our local beaches. No housekeeper picks up the trash, no janitor comes through nightly and cleans the mess left during picnics, festivals, or just a day spent at the beach that we treasure as a part of our image of Florida. It is up to us.

Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful will hold its annual coastal cleanup from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday. During last year's cleanup, almost 1,200 volunteers helped rid the county's shores of nearly 18 tons of trash. There was also an international effort involving 305,000 volunteers, who picked up almost 8-million pounds of trash from more than 11,000 miles of shoreline.

Last year's cleanup freed 186 animals worldwide from the death traps of fishing lines, nets and other garbage.

In the cleanup a few years ago, I helped pull from the water, among other things, shoes, innumerable bottles and cans, a garbage bag full of garbage and ... drumroll, please ... a recliner. Yes, somebody threw an unwanted recliner into the water, and yes, it took five of us, sopping wet and angry, to dislodge it from the muck.

Pulling a recliner out of the water is actually a very rewarding experience. Few other things have made me feel as accomplished as being hip-deep in filthy water and depriving the fish of a comfortable place to sit.

So come help out. Anyone who would like to volunteer or sponsor the event can call (813) 960-5121.

- The Old Lutz School, at U.S. 41 and Fourth Avenue

- Shimburg Park, 7001 Armand Drive in Town 'N Country

- University Area Community Center Complex, 14013 N 22nd St.

- Oak Haven River Retreat, 12143 Riverhills Drive, off Fowler Avenue east of USF

[Last modified September 10, 2005, 09:32:05]