
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 18, 1994                    TAG: 9406160016 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A12    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Short 
DATELINE: 940618                                 LENGTH:

BECAUSE OF WORKERS, THE BAY IS CLEANER

{LEAD} Once again they came through - 5,000 strong! They pulled, carried and trudged your weight tenfold through junglelike foliage during those three hours, and never once complained. As the sweat glistened across bulging muscles and strained faces, what came shining through the patches of caked-on mud was the spirit of the volunteers of the sixth annual Clean the Bay Day.

They plied the waters in Navy johnboats, ferried bags of trash atop jet skis, and even manned a large crane from the Army Corps of Engineers, not to mention the flotilla of vessels from NOAA.

{REST} They cleansed the woods of homeless remains; they should have helped too.

They'll be back next year to remove yet another speck from the eyes of Mother Nature; perhaps she'll quit crying soon. How long must this go on - the misuse and indifference toward a magnificent creation, this planet we call home?

Thanks to all of the volunteers for their devotion in helping us remove more than 200,000 pounds of shoreline filth along 200 miles of our Virginia waterways. They are what makes the heart of Virginia throb, and for that, they have my admiration.

To the smokers out there: Please help us to keep your butts off the beach!

ROBERT K. DEAN, chairman

Clean the Bay Day

Virginia Beach, June 12, 1994

by CNB