Friends and Neighbors Keep Rabbit Hash Beautiful!

Volunteers roll rusty drum up the bank

Saturday, April 26th, dawned cloudy, wet and chilly, and to be perfectly honest the last thing I wanted to do was wear myself out picking up trash along the Ohio riverbank. But a promise is a promise, so I packed up my son (Ivan) and we headed on down to the Rabbit Hash General Store.

The town was almost empty. Because of the previous night's rain, Mary Shinkle (our area's Boone County Solid Waste Management organizer) wasn't sure the scheduled manpower and volunteers were going to show up.  We had a cup of Bob Feldhaus' delicious coffee while we waited.  

Volunteer, Bobbi Kayser

Eventually volunteers did trickle in and the "Great American Cleanup" (Rabbit Hash style) was on!

The "Great American Cleanup" is a nationwide effort by "Keep America Beautiful Inc" who believe that each of us holds an obligation to preserve and protect our environment. Through our everyday choices and actions, we collectively have a huge impact on our world. By uniting citizens, businesses, and governments, they combine education with hands on stewardship to help clean individual communities. Our local effort was sponsored by the "Boone County Public Works" in cooperation with the "Rabbit Hash Historical Society".

Wilson!

Free t-shirts, trash bags, gloves and trash pickup sticks were passed out and groups of volunteers were transported to various points along Lower River Road. Lo and behold, at this point, I started having fun! Along with the predictable soda bottles, styrofoam, tires, and beer cans, we picked up some very unusual items! There were plastic rabbits and Santa Clauses, beheaded dolls and about a million tennis balls (did a factory explode up river this past winter?), gas tanks, refrigerators, motorcycle helmets, a machete and a very memorable possum skull with teeth still attached.

Volunteer, Ivan Kayser

Mary Shinkle and Jim Sheridan patrolled the road making sure the groups had water and everything else they needed. Countless trash bags were filled and the county trucks made numerous trips to unload their trash filled beds. Then the sun finally came out. It was so gratifying to stand on the road gazing at the riverbank enjoying a sunny view without tires, bottles and debris scattered about.

Shortly before noon, we all headed back to the Rabbit Hash General Store for a wonderful free lunch from Remke Markets consisting of fried chicken, steak fries, cole slaw, rolls and yummy cookies.

Volunteers gather for a group photo

I'd like to thank the group of teens that came out from local schools, volunteers from surrounding towns, and locally, Bob Feldhaus, Jean Pierce, Ivan Kayser, Jim Rice, John Conyers, and "Friends of Rabbit Hash" participants: Duane Doyle, Teri Heist, and Jim Sheridan. Although it was a very light turnout, all of the volunteer efforts were greatly appreciated.

If you couldn't make it to this Spring cleanup, you have a second chance coming on June 21st for the 2008 River Sweep event. Call 859-334-3151 for local information and to volunteer.

Let's work together to keep Rabbit Hash and the Ohio River sparkling!

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river pickup

GREAT JOB GUYS!!!!!

Dale Ellis ,
May 08, 2008 at 8:21 am

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