abe176946c27803ce0be91e9f8f9c3cf.jpg

CENTRAL JERSEY: Spring cleaning: Volunteers pick up debris at East Windsor, Hightstown lakes

By Doug Carman, Staff Writer
   HIGHTSTOWN — It was a warm, sunny, pleasant day around Peddie Lake on Sunday afternoon, but as Ryan Mulcahey and 74 other people walked around the lake, they were actually looking for the filth.
   After about 30 minutes of wading along the lake’s edge, Ryan filled his trash bag with discarded soda and beer cans that dotted his area. His bag and several others quickly piled up near a scale set up at Memorial Park by the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, which was spearheading an annual trash cleanup here, in East Windsor’s Etra Park and at several other spots throughout central New Jersey.
   ”My mom heard about this and she signed me and my dad up,” said Ryan, 16. “I’m just looking for anything I can find.”
   Gwen McNamara, communications director for the Watershed Association, said Peddie Lake’s 75 volunteers collected 81 bags of trash weighing a total of 451 pounds by the time the cleanup wrapped up at 3 p.m.. At Etra Park in East Windsor, 36 volunteers filled 57 bags of trash weighing 594 pounds on Saturday.
   ”In East Windsor, they found a cement pole and a sign, with some tire treads that added to their weight,” Ms. McNamara said.
   Volunteers also cleaned up streams and lakes in Franklin and Millstone. The Watershed Association has scheduled cleanups for this Saturday in Cranbury, Monroe, Hopewell and Princeton, and Sunday in South Brunswick and West Windsor.
   Joan McGee, municipal policies specialist at the Watershed Association, said Sunday’s cleanup was the third performed by the group at that specific site, even though the cleanups have been an annual event for the past five years. She said they focus on cleaning up areas near the water where the trash is likely to be blown into the streams.
   In some places, parks surround the bodies of water, making them less susceptible to litter. Hightstown’s Peddie Lake, on the other hand, is located in a busy and relatively urbanized area, making the annual cleanup more urgent.
   Fortunately, Hightstown’s residents have been very responsive to the volunteer effort as well.
   ”Hightstown has been really active,” Ms. McGee said of the turnout.
   Most of the volunteers were Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts who teamed up with their parents. Several Hightstown High School and Peddie School students seeking community service hours also lent their gloved hands.
   ”To be honest, we had nothing better to do,” Peddie School student Paul Suk said as he picked a straw wrapper from the ground.
   Pam Parker said she recruited 13 children and nine adults from Cub Scout Pack 53 to help at Etra Lake, and counted 15 at Peddie Lake.
   ”Just giving back to our local town and teaching the Cub Scouts good will,” she said.
   Some of the Girl Scouts took it competitively, kneeling down near a drain trying to reach for a piece of crumbled newspaper just out of their reach.
   Cub Scout Josh Carmona, 7, of East Windsor, was looking ahead and expecting a reward as he picked up some cigarette butts from the ground.
   ”No matter what, we’re seeing Wrestlemania” Josh said.
   ”If he’s good, we’re seeing Wrestlemania,” his father, Oliver, said.