WHEN IT COMES TO CITY'S GRIME, SWEEPER PUTS HIS JOBS ON THE LINE

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Keeping the streets of Cape Girardeau clean and free of debris is a daily challenge to Ron Poe.

As one of two street-sweeper drivers in the city Public Works Department, Poe cleans 30 to 35 miles of streets on an average day.

"You wouldn't believe the things I pick up," said Poe. "I find glass, bottles, cans, limbs, and all kinds of things. If we did not sweep the streets, they would definitely have stuff all over them."

The streets get especially cluttered following a rain, when dirt and gravel wash onto them, and after an ice or snow storm, when sand and other materials are spread over them.

When the roads turns slick, Poe leaves his sweeper at the public-works garage, and instead climbs aboard a dump truck with a blade on the front to remove snow and spread sand. Once the road are clear, he's back in his sweeper cleaning up the mess he made. "I put it down, and when it's all over, I go back and pick it up," laughed Poe.

Other than when it's icy, Poe's in his sweeper, rain or shine. He begins each day at about 7:30 a.m. and returns around 3:30 p.m., in time to begin the tedious process of cleaning the machine. "I am the only one who operates it, and I take real good care of it," explained Poe. "It's a high-maintenance machine, and the dust and dirt it takes in creates its own destruction."

Poe washes and greases the machine each day, which takes 45 minutes to an hour. Each week he has to do additional maintenance to keep it in top condition. Poe drives a 1988-model sweeper, which sweeps debris from the street into an elevator ladder that dumps the debris into a hopper in the machine.

Poe has several places around town where he unloads his sweeper; or, he can unload it into a dump truck. Usually he gathers two loads a day; but when sand's on the streets he can get as many as a dozen loads in one day.

His sweeper has a 350-gallon water tank for spreading water onto the streets and has an electric water pump that can be adjusted to control dust. Poe has to re-fill his tank about three times a day. He can fill up in five to six minutes simply by hooking up to a fire hydrant.

Poe has half the town assigned to him and works the area north of Broadway and east of Kingshighway. The other sweeper operator, who works from 3 a.m. until noon, has the rest of the city, which includes most of the business districts.

Poe, who has been employed by the city for 11 years and has driven the sweeper almost seven years, has established his own routes. He tries to start every Monday at Broadway and Main and cover everything to Bertling and Sprigg.

He is not always able to stick to his regular route; occasionally he is called to the airport to clean up roads and runways there, and police officers often radio him to clean up accident sites.

When city street crews clean out ditches, he comes in for the cleanup; when roads are oiled and graveled in the summer, he comes in to pick up excess gravel to keep it from being slung into yards and making a mess.

In the fall, the sweeper can be raised slightly to enable it to pick up leaves along curbs and to help in cleaning up after street crews pick up leaves.

Besides cleaning streets, Poe also provides a service to the police and public-works departments by reporting problems he sees around town. Since the sweeper only goes from 5-to-8 mph, it is easy to see potholes, large limbs that are down, or missing street signs.

"I keep a list of things and turn it in at the end of the day," he explained ... "unless I see something that needs immediate attention, and then I call it in on the radio."

The best part about his job, Poe said, is that "you are more-or-less your own boss. I have a route to get done; I know what's got to be done and then go out and do it."

The worst part about driving a street sweeper is the traffic, he said. In most parts of town, Poe said he has to keep an eye out for parked cars and vehicles going by. "You pretty well have to stay on your toes and have to be watching constantly," he said.

Poe said children can be a problem because they are fascinated by it. "I usually stop and tell them it is dangerous and will sweep up whatever is under it," he said. "Once you explain it to them, they stand back. If they are real curious, I'll stop and show it to them for a few minutes."