Volunteer crews clean up creek in addition to parks

Tires. Bricks. A bathtub. The top of a desk. A car bumper. And one dead pig.

Volunteers retrieved cleaned out those items and other debris in Cape La Croix Creek in Cape Girardeau on Saturday, as part of Parks and Recreation's 22nd annual Friends of the Park Day. The creek, from the Osage Community Centre to Shawnee Sports Complex, was new to the cleanup this year. Other locations were Fort D Park, Capaha Park, Missouri Park, Washington Park, Jaycee Municipal Golf Course and Old Lorimier Cemetery.

Last year about 300 people volunteered at the half-day event planting flowers, mulching, scrubbing and cleaning the pool, picking up trash. This year, 470 volunteered, with about 300 at Capaha Park, 50 volunteers between the other parks and 120 at the creek. Tim Arbeiter, advisory council chairman of Keep Southeast Missouri Beautiful, said Scott City's Park Day, also held Saturday, recruited more than 70 volunteers.

The creek cleanup was spearheaded by Sara Scheper, an education specialist at the Conservation Campus Nature Center in Cape Girardeau.

"Last year I was training for a half marathon on the Cape LaCroix Trail and realized that there is so much trash in the creek," she said.

Scheper contacted Parks Division manager Brad Davis about cleaning the creek during Friends of the Park Day.

Nature Center volunteer Ome Hayward said the children became competitive in cleaning up the creek. The group of about 25 used a rope in tug-of-war fashion to pull tires up the 10-foot embankment.

Once the bathtub was discovered, Chris Vromen, 21, John Vromen, 19 and Blake Nuelle, 20, all of Fredericktown, Mo., called for it, though others doubted the tub could be pulled out.

"Soon people were cheering us on. We were determined," Chris Vromen said. "It wasn't that heavy once we brought it up the embankment."

The three were enticed by a free lunch courtesy of the city plus the encouragement of their aunt, Penny Kuhlenber, also of Fredericktown. "I heard about it from the Nature Center newsletter," she said.

Sarina and Kevin Webb of Cape Girardeau also heard of the cleanup via newsletter. They and their children, Bryce, 2, Emily 6, and Amanda 10, hooked up with Matt Bierschwal, 16, of Cape Girardeau and worked together sighting the debris and dragging it out. Cable, the front of a TV and tires were arranged and placed in large yellow bags for city workers to pick up later.

"You get a sense of accomplishment because it's not required and because you know you're helping the community," Bierschwal said.

Jackson's Park Day will be held Saturday.

Arbeiter said the Keep Southeast Missouri Beautiful campaign is getting word out to service groups to clean up an area on a regular basis.

The next step is to buy a curriculum for the Keep America Beautiful campaign, he said.

capagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133