The South Shore News & Tribune
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Volunteers Clean Up Coastal Mess
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Published: October 1, 2008
SOUTH SHORE - A stream of colorfully clad volunteers zipped through the woods, twisting and turning with every new find.
A beer can here, an old radio there.
The Girl Scouts from Troop 508 in Apollo Beach, took their Saturday morning to clean up after others who choose to toss litter on the roadside.
"Who is ever going to throw something out of a car window?" Laura Simon asked the girls, as they worked their way around the Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center in Ruskin.
In all, about 3,114 volunteers spread out across 119.25 miles in Hillsborough County to pick up debris that could otherwise pollute the environment or endanger wildlife.
Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful and The Ocean Conservancy acted as partners to organize the International Coastal Cleanup, sponsored nationally by Bank of America and The Coca-Cola Co. and locally by numerous businesses and agencies, including The Tampa Tribune.
Volunteers hit 28 sites in Hillsborough County, including five in the South Shore area and three in the Brandon and Seffner area.
They found everything from discarded tires to thousands of cigarette butts, air-conditioning units, plastic bags galore and construction debris.
At Apollo Beach Nature Park, volunteers found a live guinea pig that had been left in a box. They took it to an animal hospital.
"I don't know how long it was out there, but it was definitely our most unusual find," said Christine Commerce, executive director of Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful.
Volunteers also found an injured bird and one that had become entangled in rope and died at the Heather Lakes subdivision in Brandon.
"I know people do pollute, but it's increasing and it's terrible," said Pamela Mayo, a senior Girl Scout from Troop 660 in Brandon. She and several others trekked to Apollo Beach to clean up along the roadsides."People are just lazy,." Said Scout Ashley Vick.
Back at Camp Bayou, the Stultz family was busy loading bags.
"We do this every year, but this is our first time here," said mom, Kris Stultz, manning the check list, ticking off medical supplies, cigarette butts, plastic lids and construction debris. "We're finding lots of things, a little bit of everything."
In all, volunteers loaded up 59,425 pounds of litter and debris.
BY THE NUMBERS
• 22nd Street and Causeway Boulevard: 86 volunteers, 1,060 pounds of debris.
• Apollo Beach Nature Park: 195, 800.
• Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center: 18, 1,240.
• Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve: 3, 75.
• Common Good Park: 43, 1,420.
• Gibsonton: 111, 10,000.
• Heather Lakes subdivision: 40, 400.
• Lake Thonotosassa: 57, 720.
• Lithia Springs Park: 17, 3,300.
Source: Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful
MORE ONLINE
To see more photos from the event, go to southshore. tbo.com. Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 865-1566 or yhammett@tampatrib.com. To see more photos from the event, go to southshore. tbo.com.
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