THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 21, 1995 TAG: 9504210541
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Kids can have fish painted on their faces Saturday at Currituck County's J.P. Knapp Junior High School.
Adults can swap, dump or pick up free paint in Pasquotank County.
Do-gooders in Dare will gather to sweep roads and beaches clean of litter.
It's Earth Day.
The annual day set aside for environmental awareness has spurred a flurry of activity in the Albemarle this year. And a focal point of Earth Day events is at Knapp, where the Currituck Extension Homemakers is sponsoring its first Currituck Earth Day Celebration.
Officials from throughout the region, including workers at area wildlife parks and refuges, will be on hand from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday to take part in educational and entertaining activities.
The event will feature displays on wildlife, water conservation, recycling and solid-waste reduction. Visitors will include Smokey Bear, McGruff the crime dog and recycling mascot Clean Cat.
``We want to show some environmental awareness, try to let people know what's around them in the environment,'' said Anne Blindt, recycling coordinator for the Albemarle Regional Solid Waste Management Authority.
``We definitely would like people from all around, whoever can stop in.''
While face-painting and costumed creatures attract the kids, adults may be interested in the opportunity to drop off phone books and magazines for recycling. The Bloodmobile also will be at the site.
But don't expect the celebration to generate a lot of trash.
``We're going to make it kind of a litterless event, too,'' Blindt said, promising to provide lots of garbage receptacles and to pass out pocket ashtrays.
For more information on the Currituck event, call 232-2261.
In some counties, celebrations of Earth Day started early.
Camden County High School on Thursday was named one of 25 schools in the state to receive $1,000 grants to improve its media center's environmental education collection.Winning applications for the ``Project Tomorrow'' grants were selected from more than 100 submissions, said officials from the North Carolina Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources.
Other Earth Day-related events include:
A ribbon-cutting ceremony to open a new recycling center at the Coast Guard Support Center in Elizabeth City at 2 p.m today. Also today, the Coast Guard Group Cape Hatteras and the Coast Guard Women's Club will clean a two-mile stretch of Highway 12 north of Buxton. And Coast Guard Station Oregon Inlet will clean a stretch of Highway 12 south of the Bonner Bridge.
The Outer Banks Surfrider Foundation's first ``Spring Sweep of the Outer Banks,'' 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday.
``We're just asking everyone to get out and clean the beaches, clean the Beach Road,'' said Surfrider Foundation Public Relations Chairwoman Rosalind Shields.
The cleanup is running in conjunction with Kill Devil Hills' townwide ``Trash Attack.'' Town officials are expecting folks from all walks of life to be out picking up litter.
For more information on Surfrider Foundation activities, call 480-WATR.
The third annual Pasquotank County ``Paint Swap Day,'' from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the county's recycling headquarters, behind the Farmer's Market on Pritchard Street in Elizabeth City.
Paint cannot be disposed of in landfills. But on Saturday, residents can donate, swap or collect paint for free. Lead-based paint will be accepted, but not exchanged or mixed. For more information, call 335-4105.
Special events at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island, with the theme ``Threatened and Endangered Wildlife.'' Activities such as talks on endangered animals, free giveaways and refreshments, and coloring contests will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call the aquarium at 473-3493. by CNB