A Clean Kotzebue
Week of June 2, 2003

Each year at this time, the disappearance of the snow leads to the appearance of all the litter that has accumulated over the past seven months. As the gateway community to the NANA region, it is very important that we do everything possible to make Kotzebue a beautiful place to live and visit.

The local Lions' Club has led us up the right path this spring. Members of that organization, as well as friends and other volunteers, visited our cemeteries over the past weekend to give them an extreme makeover. They not only removed truckloads of windblown garbage, but did some landscaping as well. The result was spiritually uplifting.

To all those who lent their time and effort to the undertaking, I would like to say thank you. And a special thanks goes to May Kenworthy, a Lions' Club board member who reportedly suggested the cemetery beautification project.

The City of Kotzebue has traditionally sponsored a major clean-up day around this time of year, rewarding the pick-up volunteers with a dollar per bag of trash removed from the ground. The result is always impressive, even if temporary.

One way that we might stay on top of the litter problem throughout the summer is to have individuals or organizations "adopt" a block of our city for regular pick-up. Borough staff has already volunteered to maintain the block of property surrounding our building. If we can get a similar commitment from others, like the Lions' Club has willingly made, we will be well on our way to creating a better place to live and visit.

Another way to help accomplish our goal is if some of those who walk to work each day would consider carrying a trash bag with them once a week and gathering the litter they find along the road. Those who regularly jog or walk for exercise might also consider adding pick-up to their routine. A little bit of bending can burn a few extra calories and trim that waistline too!

Parents might have their children gather a bag or two of garbage around the neighborhood or their playground each weekend as a part of their regular chores. I have talked in the past about how important it is to have children perform chores around the home and village as a means of nurturing good mental health and feeling "connected" to their family and community. The only way to insure that we have responsible adults in the future is to build that quality in our children now. It's not going to happen by itself.

Building overall community wellness throughout our region is our prime objective at this time. Clean streets, freshly painted and well-maintained homes and buildings, and litter-free public areas are an important early step in that direction. It's all about pride in who we are and where we live.