THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 20, 1994 TAG: 9409200310
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Tired of seeing their beaches and waterfront communities being trashed, hundreds of Albemarle residents decided this weekend it was time to just bag it.
Local organizers of Saturday's 8th Annual First Citizens Bank Big Sweep '94 say a combination of good weather and Good Samaritanism brought out large crowds to pick up litter and debris from community waterways, public grounds and roadsides.
``I think it was very successful,'' said James R. Davis, who coordinated Pasquotank County's ``Clean Sweep,'' which focuses on roadways, to coincide with the statewide beach, lake and river cleanup effort.
This year more than 11,000 volunteers in 86 North Carolina communities collected 177 tons of trash, Big Sweep Executive Director Susan Bartholomew said Monday afternoon from her Raleigh office.
Those figures were lower than state organizers had anticipated after last year yielded 230 tons of trash collected by more than 12,000 volunteers.
``One thing many of the coordinators have been telling me is that their areas were cleaner this year,'' Bartholomew said. ``In fact, one coordinator said it was like night and day.''
That sentiment was echoed by organizers of Beach Sweep in Dare County, where 526 volunteers collected 14,120 pounds of beach debris from Carova to Ocracoke Island.
``The beaches were very clean already,'' Mitzi Wilkins, the beach cleanup coordinator said. ``We had to send people up to the beach road and out to the bypass to find trash.''
Surfrider Foundation's successful Adopt-A-Beach program contributed to the scant findings on the shoreline, Wilkins said. ``There's not enough beach now for people who want to adopt a stretch,'' she said.
All Beach Sweep volunteers earned tickets to a post-cleanup Trashfest that included more than 1,000 pounds of barbecued pork and live entertainment at Bermuda Greens in Kitty Hawk.
But in the western part of the state, rain forced some volunteers to postpone efforts. Other dedicated do-gooders went out in the wet weather anyway.
Among the more shocking findings were the skeleton of an otter found entangled in fishing net in Hyde County and a pelican that had died after becoming ensnared in a fishing line in New Hanover County.
There also was a success story.
In Alamance County, ``Someone found a catfish trapped in a can, and they were able to release it.''
In the Albemarle area, big items included tires, appliances and housing materials, like old beams and pieces of roofing.
Pasquotank County trash collectors covered a 32-mile area that netted 1,100 pounds of shoreline litter. Many more bags of garbage were filled from along roadsides, school grounds and public parks.
The most unique acquisition was a suitcase recovered by the Salvation Army Men's Club. ``It looked just like someone had taken a trip and then dumped the suitcase on the side of the road,'' Davis said Monday.
Boy Scout Troop 151 picked up the most bags of litter, while a Girl Scout coalition supplied the most people in Pasquotank - more than 100 of the 220 who took part. The Newland Development Club earned an award for bringing in the heaviest load, Davis said.
Pasquotank participants were treated to a post-Sweep picnic at the U.S. Coast Guard base in Elizabeth City.
In Currituck County, the only other official Big Sweep community in a six-county Albemarle area, 63 volunteers collected 2,300 pounds of garbage.
``We were real pleased with the results,'' Bartholomew said. ``It always amazes me about the dedication of our volunteers. I think it really shows how much people across the state care about their communities.'' by CNB