Plains clean-up a success

Volunteers last weekend might have made a small dent in "Project Clean-Up Days," but they got a big appreciation for their efforts, according to Plains Mayor Dan Rowan, who coordinated the project with council member Sandy Chenoweth.

About 50 volunteers Friday and Saturday went to the homes of two dozen residents to clean up yards, mow lawns, and haul away unwanted materials cluttering the neighborhoods. By 5 p.m. Saturday, the town lot across the street from the fire department had a stack of some 200 old tires, a 12-foot high pile of brush, a 14-foot long, 12-foot wide, and 7-foot tall stack of metal materials, including more than 20 old bikes, freezers, a dryer, and two riding lawn mowers. Volunteers also filled a 40-cubic yard dumpster with an assortment of garbage. The piles would have been higher, but volunteers took most of the rubbish directly to the county dump Saturday.

"I couldn't be more pleased with the volunteers and the help we gave people," said Chenoweth, who nicknamed the project "Neighbors Helping Neighbors." Chenoweth said they hauled five trailer loads of all types of trash and brush from one house. A crew of four or five volunteers spent almost the entire two days – an estimated 11 hours – at that one place. Volunteers, a mixture of youth and adults, spent an average of one and a half hours at each home. Chenoweth said a group of volunteers from Clark Fork Valley Hospital picked up eight bags of trash from along the highway on the west end of town. Seven dump truck loads of brush was taken out of the greenway over the weekend.

John Lemro and his group of mostly kids gathered countless bags of dead branches and trash from the greenway, most of which came from a small area next to the reader board. The county waived the charge for non-typical garbage at the dump for the town's clean-up project. The town had to collect $1.25 a tire ($4 with rim) for tires. The idea was to get as much cleaned up prior to Plains Days, which takes place June 1, 2, 3.

Volunteers rendezvoused at Fred Young Park each morning for the addresses of those who needed help. Rowan said the program was mainly for elderly, handicapped or those with health problems, although there were some who merely took advantage of the program.

Volunteers on Friday ranged from 6-year-old Hailey Dimond to 75-year-old Marie Corbin. Emma Dimond, 9, spent her birthday Saturday helping. Even the Friday rain didn't slow volunteers. On Saturday, the crews were joined by Jake Mathers, 2, who helped put small tree branches on a pile. Volunteer groups also came from the LDS, Alliance and Harvest churches, along with students from Plains School and the Plains Lions Club. Plains High School students cleaned the highway out to Lower Lynch Road a week prior and volunteers from First Security Bank picked up trash along Highway 28 on Friday.

"We helped some people that could have done the work themselves, but it was for the good of the community, so we did it," said Rowan. The town's public works staff helped throughout Friday. Council members Chris Allen and John Curry also volunteered their time.

Rowan said this was the first time to have this type of event in the seven years he's been with the town, although former Mayor Greg Eitelberg tried to get a similar project going last year.

Gambles Hardware donated trash bags. Studs True Value Lumber contributed trash bags and work gloves. Plains Drug Store donated rubber gloves and hand sanitizer. The Mangy Moose donated plates and silverware for a barbecue for the volunteers Saturday afternoon at Fred Young Park. McGowan Grocery donated $100 worth of food for the barbecue. Blackfoot Telephone donated 15 cases of water and told the mayor that they would have volunteer crews with boom trucks trimming trees in the next week. In addition, Ripples Ice Cream Parlor offered to treat each volunteer to a free scoop of hard ice cream, said Chenoweth.

Rowan said he appreciated the volunteers that gave their time over the weekend and the businesses for their donations. "I think that clean-up days went very well for its inaugural run," said Rowan. "It is my hope that this will become an annual event and our community will embrace this effort to clean up the town and help our neighbors who may need some assistance."