CLEANUP WEEK OFFERS SPECIAL SERVICES

There are many special benefits of being a resident of the Cape Girardeau area. The familiar ones include friendly people, good employment opportunities, well-kept neighborhoods, top-quality schools, abundant health-care facilities, active churches, thriving civic organizations, outstanding shopping and great weather.

OK, it gets hot and muggy during the summer. But the rest of the list is accurate, and others would add even more attributes to living in this area.

There is one thing about life here that is noticed especially by newcomers as autumn rolls around and the leaves start to fall. Where else can you live and have city employees in Cape Girardeau and Jackson come around and pick up everything you've cleaned our of your attic, basement or garage? For free?

And if you want to haul the stuff you're throwing away to the landfill transfer station, there is no charge in both cities this week, which is the official fall cleanup week.

But wait. That's not all.

In Cape Girardeau, you can take your leaves, limbs and other yard and garden debris to a special dump site until Dec. 21. At no charge.

But if you would rather rake leaves but not haul them, just wait until Nov. 10, when Cape Girardeau will send around a giant vacuum cleaner on wheels to suck up your curbside leaves. For free. Until Dec. 20. This special service is offered on certain days in certain areas. A map will be published in the Nov. 5 Southeast Missourian.

Although neither Cape Girardeau nor Jackson will throw in a free set of steak knives with all these special deals during the fall cleanup, there are some other goodies.

For example, if you would like to have mulched leaves for your garden or flower beds, you can get them from the Cape Girardeau leaf dump site -- for free, of course -- by contacting the Public Works Department at 334-9151.

And, finally, there is another unofficial benefit of the fall cleanup in both Cape Girardeau and Jackson: scavenging. For many folks, finding treasure in other people's trash is as much a passion as finding a great buy at an antique shop.

City officials in Cape Girardeau and Jackson are to be commended for their commitment to cleanup efforts in their towns. And residents of both cities deserve a pat on the back for working so diligently to make their hometowns cleaner and prettier.