Spring

cleaning

By CASEY RESSLER-Valley Life editor

Holding up a Big Mac carton in one hand and an empty Camel cigarette pack in the other hand, the look on Georges Burnett's face told the story -- disbelief.

Burnett, along with his wife, Patricia, were helping clean up Knik-Goose Bay Road Sunday night. While the army of volunteers of the official cleanup effort had long since gone home, the Burnetts were out with their simple black garbage bags, doing what they could to help.

"Can you believe some of these people?" Patricia Burnett said while holding up what seemed to be the millionth fast-food wrapper she found in the last five minutes. "I know the windstorm blew a lot of trash, but I doubt it blew a Taco Bell wrapper all the way from Wasilla. Somebody had to have thrown this out of their window."

Following March's ferocious windstorm, the Valley looked like a landfill, as garbage got scattered everywhere. While all areas looked bad, Knik-Goose Bay Road took an extra-hard hit. Also, the three garbage bags of trash that were left on one of the corners a few weeks ago didn't help, Georges Burnett said.

"I drive this stretch every day to work, and it amazes me how much trash people throw out their windows," Georges Burnett said. "And then one day you'll drive by and there will be an entire garbage bag on the side of the road. Either that was done intentionally, or people are so careless when they put trash in their truck. If you can't notice a garbage bag flying out of the back of your truck, you aren't paying attention."

The Burnetts said they come out and pick up garbage on the stretch of the road they live on each spring. Its something they hate doing, but realize it must get done.

"If people were considerate and didn't act like idiots throwing their trash out, we could get this done in an hour," Patricia Burnett said. "Instead, we've been out here all day cleaning up after people. This is Alaska. There isn't supposed to be trash everywhere."

While the Burnetts were part of their own two-person team, there were legions of volunteers spread around the Valley, from Knik to Palmer, picking up trash. Yellow and blue trash bags could be found along the roads of the Valley all weekend, which added some color to the landscape of green, as the trees budded around the same time. Clean roadways and waterways -- the result of countless hours of volunteer work -- added to that beauty.

"The Valley looks so nice after the cleanup days," Patricia Burnett said. "It's a shame it doesn't stay like that."

One reputation the Valley has received is that of being a junk car haven. If a car doesn't work, chances are it'll end up in your neighbor's driveway, people say. Last weekend, the Army National Guard did its part to help get rid of that reputation, as the annual Bumper Drag cleanup effort took place. People got junk cars towed away from their residences for free, as part of the effort.

The Army National Guard, in return, got plenty of training. Using only global-positioning system (GPS) coordinates, the crews were dispatched, as if in a military mission.

Upon arrival, soldiers mobilized their equipment and quickly loaded up the vehicles using large loaders and flat-bed trucks. The Bumper Drag took the cleanup effort and turned it into a training exercise.