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Kids Have Class On Day Off

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 26, 2008

Updated: 01/24/2008 05:33 pm

VALRICO - Seventy-five students spent their holiday Monday tromping through muddy truck ruts and into algae-covered ponds picking up hundreds of smelly beer bottles and other litter left along the shores of the Alafia River.

"Why do they like to do this?" 12-year-old Katie Matthews asked, trying to fathom why litterbugs would trash the place. "It's just sick and wrong."

The sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade Randall Middle School students participated in the cleanup after hearing about the mess visitors constantly leave along the river north of the Lithia-Pinecrest Road bridge. It was the first time Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful, a nonprofit group that organizes cleanups across the county, targeted that segment of the Alafia.

"It's disgusting," said 12-year-old Chris Clarke. "I can't believe people would do this. People must just sit out here and drink beer and get drunk and leave this mess."

"It starts out innocently enough," said Hillsborough County Environmental Deputy Dean Cary. "Somebody throws some beer bottles in the camp fire, then, after they have a few, they just don't care anymore."

Karen Wagner, president of the Alafia River Basin Stewardship Council, first brought attention to the litter problem below the bridge in September. Sheriff's officials had tried to blockade the area, but partygoers took a chain saw to the gate the county had erected and rolled on through. The county owns the property, so not only were they illegally dumping, but also they were trespassing.

"I can't even paddle down the river anymore without it turning into a cleanup," Wagner said, adding she truly appreciated the help from students and Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful.

The youngsters made quick work of cleaning up the mess, scrambling through brambles that stuck in their hair and clothes as they picked up wire, grills, water bottles and gas cans.

Zach Bedford, 13, tumbled sideways into an algae-covered pond as he retrieved a truck tire.

"I tried not to fall in, but, oh, well," he said after rolling the tire up a small hill with help from friends.

Deputy Tim Pennenga, who lives nearby, and sheriff's Detective Shannon Locke, who typically patrols that part of the Alafia area as an environmental resources deputy, hauled in cardboard someone had thrown in the woods.

Pennenga climbed a gigantic oak tree and cut down a rope swing. Both officers helped the youngsters carry heavy bags of glass bottles to a trailer that was later emptied into trash bins headed for the county landfill. The students collected an estimated 3,360 pounds of illegally dumped materials, said Christine Commerce, executive director of Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful.

"Having the kids out here helping is hugely important," Locke said. "I can't say enough about them spending their Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday out here. Now, if we could just keep it this way."

Most people don't understand the breadth of the county's illegal dumping problem, much of it committed by commercial haulers and some by partygoers too lazy or indifferent to take their garbage with them, Locke said.

When debris is dumped on private land and deputies can't determine who dumped it, the property owner must clean it up, Locke said. "It can cost thousands of dollars."

Without the students' help, the Alafia cleanup would have been left to the county.

The students were impressed by the enormity of the mess.

"I've never seen so many beer bottles in my life," said 13-year-old Connor Harmsworth. "I bet I've picked up a hundred myself."

Normally, Connor said, he would be spending his holiday at home with friends. Instead, he joined the cleanup as part of Randall's Student Learning Council, a group that plans and organizes service projects for students.

Shani Brewer, 12, dug through the woods in search of trash. She had recently had her long, curly hair styled and didn't count on the "hitchhikers" that would get stuck in it as she trudged through the bushes alongside the river. Her friend Sha'Ren Wray took a few moments to try to pull out the sticker burrs.

Nearby, Jon Browning, Darby Sampson, Allison Ferren and Lauren Morrison, all 11, made their way up the river bank hauling a heavy bag of beer bottles.

"I'm hoping after seeing this that when they get to high school they won't be saying, 'Let's go out and trash the river,'" said seventh-grade geography teacher Kristy Verdi, who helped organize the cleanup.

Each project the students do, Verdi said, comes with a lesson.

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 657-4532 or at yhammett@tampatrib.com.

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