Beach Cleanup July 5, 2006

I would love to help, but my butt will not be out of my bed at 8am on July 5th. Those people must be smoking crack again. I told them last year to push back the clean-up to a later time so they would have a greater turnout of people to help clean. :idontno: I bet you that the only people who will be there at 8am will be the people who are not shooting the fireworks to begin with.

I would love to help, but my butt will not be out of my bed at 8am on July 5th. Those people must be smoking crack again. I told them last year to push back the clean-up to a later time so they would have a greater turnout of people to help clean. :idontno: I bet you that the only people who will be there at 8am will be the people who are not shooting the fireworks to begin with.

You can go any time. But you might want to take some bags. ;-)

I coordinated the Grayton clean-up last year. The amount of trash we collected was absolutely amazing! Quite a few sowallers (including Kurt) joined in the "good, clean fun". I do recommend wearing gloves. I picked up a piece of rubber and then realized what it was! Yikes! 😱
Starting at 8 AM seems early, but by 10 or 11 when we were winding up it was HOT outside.

wheeeeeeeeeeeee-bang!

rent a king beach cleaner from a neighboring county ;-) for the day and sleep in!

wheeeeeeeeeeeee-bang!

rent a king beach cleaner from a neighboring county ;-) for the day and sleep in!

no more rubber

We don't want to sweep the beaches clean of natural materials.

and it dosen't if you keep the scarifier down

well, as long as the rubber wasn't wrapped around something

better than a bag and gloves anyway

I :clap_1: all of the beach cleaners! You know it is one of my "preferred" (necessary) activities when I am local. Steven found my trash gloves in the wayback of my car and asked what they were...I proudly told him they were my Hwy 98 pickup gloves!!! I will be with you in sowal spirit!

We don't want to sweep the beaches clean of natural materials.

How about sweeping up the natural materials AND adding advertising to the sand too! I saw this at a couple beaches on the Jersey shore:

Beach Billboard

I have a problem with the concept of cleaning up at 8am on July 5. I think that we should leave the debris on the beach so the revellers can see it the next day. Maybe then they would realize how much litter they created the prior evening. It makes no sense to "reward" these people with a clean beach the next day; a beach that is cleaned up while they sleep it off! They may never realize what a freakin' mess it was unless they have to walk through it. I say let them wallow in their own waste.

Couldn't we clean up on July 6?

I have a problem with the concept of cleaning up at 8am on July 5. I think that we should leave the debris on the beach so the revellers can see it the next day. Maybe then they would realize how much litter they created the prior evening. It makes no sense to "reward" these people with a clean beach the next day; a beach that is cleaned up while they sleep it off! They may never realize what a freakin' mess it was unless they have to walk through it. I say let them wallow in their own waste.

Couldn't we clean up on July 6?

I am with you on this one John! As I said, the people cleaning the beach at 8am on July 5 would not be the people making the mess. :bang: Heck, Grayton has gotten to be such a madhouse on July 4 that I stopped going for the holiday.

I have a problem with the concept of cleaning up at 8am on July 5. I think that we should leave the debris on the beach so the revellers can see it the next day. Maybe then they would realize how much litter they created the prior evening. It makes no sense to "reward" these people with a clean beach the next day; a beach that is cleaned up while they sleep it off! They may never realize what a freakin' mess it was unless they have to walk through it. I say let them wallow in their own waste.

Couldn't we clean up on July 6?

You know John...this does make sense. Part of my pickup is always for the turtles, but the major mess will be made after dark anyway. Does it make sense to protest a beach cleanup? :idontno:

You know John...this does make sense. Part of my pickup is always for the turtles, but the major mess will be made after dark anyway. Does it make sense to protest a beach cleanup? :idontno:

I am not protesting cleaning up the beach, nor do I think John is doing so. We are just giving the mess makers the chance to clean up a little bit of their own poop. There will still be plenty to clean up even after the clean up crew finishes because there is so much trash left from so many people. For me, everyday is a clean-up day, even if I clean up only a few pieces. Several years ago, someone taught me to take out more than I bring in. So, when I go to the beach, or anywhere for that matter, I always search out something to clean up. Believe me, you don't have to search too hard.

Once, I read some clevely organized words written by Edward Abbey. He wrote, "Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast... a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still here...."

The Gaffrey clan is a great fan of fireworks. Justin spent a few hours with me cleaning up last year and said he may not do any fireworks this year. :lol: We'll see.

Cindy and Dennis spread what was left all around last year. If we had waited to clean up, Cindy would have made a bigger mess.

I agree with you though John - maybe you can get it moved?

And DON"T shoot them in the lakes!

Fireworks are not allowed to be shot on the beach are they? After all, they do not want people leaving their outside porch lights on facing the beach or shining flashlights around on the beach at night, saying it disturbs the sea turtles. Well, fireworks would also. And no one pays attention to those rules anyway as we always see people out crabbing at night with nets and flashlights when we are down there. And of course, that is when the crabs are out. There was only one sea turtle nesting spot down the beach from us and it had something around it to keep people from disturbing it, but it was way up on the sand of course.

The Sheriff's beach patrol deputies told me recently that they don't even try to enforce the fireworks ordinance on July 4. Other times of the year, they will respond only if someone complains with a report. I suppose there's only so much they can do...

TS Cindy did get mighty close last year. Still, I just can't get excited about cleaning up someone's trash before they see it the next day. My wife says I'm a grouch.

My rhetorical question of a protest was not to completely ignore the cleanup, but to perhaps "protest" the time and show up say around noon en masse and make a statement. If I had a webcam, I could show you some great dirty looks. I have never been at the beach during a fourth of July holiday...I can't even imagine the mess.

If we don't get any rain soon, I'll be watching the fireworks from my house with my garden hose in one hand and a Corona w/lime in the other. :cool:

"Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast... a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still here...."

So wise! Can't go for a walk with out stopping several times to pick up the litter. I learned a long time ago that you drive yourself crazy trying to do everything for every cause but I try to do "something" as often as I can and don't punish myself because I can't do more. If only each person could do a little, we could make a difference.

I didn't know we had circus seals in the Gulf. :bang: