Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, September 17, 1995                   TAG: 9509180070
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THEY CAME; THEY SAW; THEY CLEANED UP

Like the tale of the faithful postman, neither rain nor mud nor dark and cloudy sky kept a group of Old Southwest neighbors from fulfilling their mission Saturday morning.

"We're here to clean up, clean out and beautify," said Trina Cline as she surveyed her poncho-clad neighbors from the front porch of her Day Avenue home. "We don't have the turnout we expected because of the rain, but the people who are here are the real troopers."

Between 15 and 20 Day and Marshall Avenue residents turned out Saturday for Block Pride Day, organized by Cline as a way to build neighborhood relationships and discourage violence in a part of Roanoke's Old Southwest that has been plagued by suspicious fires and drug deals.

Cline originally had planned to hold a cleanup for just the 600 block of Day, where she lives. But word of the cleanup spread among her neighbors, and on Saturday the crew fanned out with rakes and shovels over a four-block area of the two streets. They swept the wet sidewalks, dug muddy weeds out of crevices in the street and picked up the cigarette wrappers and fast food bags littering the lawns.

Kimball Egge lives on Marshall Avenue in a house that he has been renovating for several years.

"We want the police to know that somebody cares," Egge said. He took off his gloves and wiped the rain from his face. "This area is the heritage of Roanoke."

"What we're doing here is the beginning of a new era for our community," Cline said. "My dream is that Day and Marshall can be as nice as King George and Walnut."

Michael Witt, who lives just down the street from Cline, said that the cleanup is a small effort, but one that just might send drug dealers the message that they aren't wanted in any part of Old Southwest, even in these border streets.

"As long as the drugs are off the block, this street will be OK," Witt said. He rubbed his knuckles, sore from knocking on neighborhood doors. "If I didn't care about the neighborhood, I wouldn't be out here right now."

"It's good to have Roanoke back - and clean," said 12-year-old Kristina Smalls, who was carrying around a rake as big as she was. Smalls, too, lives and plays on Day Avenue.

Paula Prince, secretary of Old Southwest Inc., was keeping an eye on the refreshment table, loaded with doughnuts and other snacks donated by local businesses.

"It has the potential to make a difference," Prince said, waving a hand at the two kids hauling full trash bags down the sidewalk. "I'm not saying that the street will never again be dirty. But if these people keep coming out here and keep cleaning up, it gives them pride in their street. And that's what matters."