Volunteers clean up Patterson St. roadside
By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
About a dozen volunteers spent Saturday morning, January 30, removing roughly a quarter-truck of trash from a one-block stretch of Patterson Street roadside.
The volunteer group, which ranged from 3-year-old Merci Floyd to Atmore Mayor Jim Staff, were participating in the first phase of the Patterson Street Beautification Project, a cleanup organized by Eric and Tori Lambert.
The Lamberts and their helpers used “grabbers” to fill buckets with glass bottles, paper products and assorted other debris from the thick grass on the northern side of Patterson Street Apartments. The buckets were emptied into heavy black bags.
Farther back in the wooded area just off the street, participants discovered a rotted couch, chair and other furniture pieces. Fast food bags were plentiful, as were cereal boxes, candy wrappers and plastic containers of all shapes and sizes. Some trash pieces were buried under tangles of thick, dead grass, indicating a lengthy stay along the roadside.
The city furnished the heavy black bags into which the volunteers packed the refuse, and Ricky Tolin, a city employee, brought a garbage truck to the site for disposal of the recovered items.
Several motorists stopped their vehicles to thank the volunteers for their effort, and Nigeria, a young resident of the apartment complex, furnished water to the cleanup crew.
Also assisting in the litter-removal effort were Atmore City Council members Shawn Lassiter and Eunice Johnson, Municipal Court Judge Karean Reynolds, Concerned Citizens of Atmore President Russell Robinson, Charla Johnson and Angel Johnson.
The core group plans to tackle other such cleanups in the future. Dates and times will be announced as such plans are finalized.
“This is not the end, only the beginning, of beautifying and educating our community,” Eunice Johnson said. “I want to thank everyone for their support in looking to better our Atmore community.”