YOUTH ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM CLEANS UP

Waste was plentiful for the picking last week when many people
pitched-in to clean up their community.

Over 500 bags of garbage was collected from throughout the
municipality April 19 when local schools, municipal representatives,
the RCMP, Interior Roads and eager volunteers took part in Pitch-In
Canada Week, a national voluntary campaign intended to keep
communities clean.

The four-hour effort, based by the South Cariboo Visitor Information
Centre and the 100 Mile Marsh, began with the district handing out
garbage bags to volunteers. For each full bag of garbage returned a
hot dog and pop was received.

The district's Parks and Recreation manager, Brian Domes, was thrilled
with the turnout of volunteers, yet surprised by the amount of garbage.

"I ended up getting two dumpsters, one at the visitor info centre, and
then I got another big one," Domes said. "I thought that was going to
take care of it, but that only ended up taking care of about 20 per
cent of what we ended up with."

Domes said there were some larger items brought in including auto
mufflers, a large piece of old carpet, hubcaps, old chairs, a hockey
stick, an old home-made hockey net, a trunk and a large plastic pipe.

While Domes called the day a success, he wasn't just referring to the
amount of garbage removed from 100 Mile. For every bag of garbage, the
district also donated $5 to the RCMP Drug Abuse Resistance Education
Program (DARE), taught by the police through local elementary schools.
The garbage tally was $1,023 raised for the program.