The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 115, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 17, 2005 Page: 4 of 36
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Hemphill County Area Newspapers and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Hemphill County Library.
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THURSDAY 17 MARCH 2005
NEWS PAGE
THE CANADIAN RECORD
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Weisz
Adopt-a-Highway volunteer program
in 20th year of fighting Texas littering
As the Texas Department of Transporta^
tion makes way for the annual
Texas Trash-Off day April 2,
loeal Adopt-fi-Highway partici-
pants spent the day Thursday
and Friday picking up litter
along Highway 60 south of town
in response to rising complaints
of trash alongside the road.
The strong winds created problems as cur-
rents picked up discarded paper, wrappers
and plastic and spread them along the high-
way right of ways. Perhaps more noticeable
than the wind was the amount of trash strewn
along the highway.
The Canadian Masonic Lodge #855 sought
out Canadian High School Students Patrick
and Dominick Vasquez, Antonio Cardoza, Vic-
tor Reyes and Cesar Hermosillo to help pick
up roadside garbage along its two-mile Adopt-
fi-Highway stretch two to four miles south
of Canadian. About 74, 33-gallon trash bags
were filled by the Masonic Lodge volunteers.
More than one billion pieces of litter,
primarily consisting of fast-food trash, are
thrown on Texas highways each year, said
Doris Howdeshell, director of TxDOT's travel
division, which is responsible for litter preven-
tion efforts. Litter costs Texans $35.5 million
yearly that includes pick-up expenses like hir-
ing contractors to clean the roadways.
Other costs, associated with litter include
the Don't Mess with Texas advertising and lit-
ter awareness campaign that has a $2 million
budget, she said.
"If we didn't have any litter, we wouldn't
need Don't Mess with Texas programs, so you
have to include that in your costs," Howdeshell
said, not to mention the adverse environment
affects of trash that can not be calculated in
dollars and cents.
TxDOT officials, who have said that there
is not enough money in the budget to include
trash pickup, are encouraging volunteer par-
ticipation in both the Adopt-a-Highway and
annual Trash Off events.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of
Adopt-a-Highway, which began when one Tx-
DOT engineer, Bobby Evans, took action after
he noticed the roadside litter surrounding his
hometown in Tyler. According to TxDOT, the
program has spread to all 50 states and world-
wide with Adopt-a-Highway programs in Aus-
tralia, Canada and Japan.
"We've been fighting the [litter] problem a
lot of years," Howdershell said. "We are mak-
ing progress."
However, with the growing population,
more vehicles travel Texas roads, thus making
the problem appear just as bad as when litter
programs began 20 years ago, she said.
"As the population grows, we may be mak-
ing progress, but appear like we have not,"
Howdershell said. "The more traffic you have,
the more litter."
Each stretch of highway up for adoption
is two miles long, excluding interstates and
inside cities, said Brenda Lowe, the Panhan-
dle's local Adopt-a-Highway coordinator out of
Amarillo. TxDOT provides safety vests, trash
bags and a safety video for groups who volun-
teer. Groups must sign a two-year contract
and will receive signs with the groups' name at
the beginning and end of their section.
Dorit mess with Texas
TrAsh-Off
April 2, 2005
Antonio Cardom ancl Patrick Vasquez battled
strong mnds Thursday as they picked up trash
alongside Highway 60/83 south of Canadian.
The high school students were asked to help on
behalf of the Canadian Masonic Lodge #855
to pick up litter as part of the Adopt-a-Highwav
program. The group of high school students
filled 74 bags with roadside garbage.
Lowe, who has volunteered for the pro-
gram on behalf of an Amarillo group, said
volunteer groups are asked to pick up trash
along their portion of the highway at least four
times a year—one of those times being the
Trash-Off event the first Saturday in April.
Volunteers place the bags, at their sign, and
TxDOT employees pick them up and dispose
of the garbage.
"It is a little bit of work, but it's a fun time to
get together," Lowe said of volunteering.
More than 3,800 groups volunteer for
Adopt-a-Highway across the state. In the 17
counties Lowe represents, about 160 groups
are currently participating, adopting 343
miles in the Texas Panhandle.
Adopt-a-Highway groups along with vol-
unteers band together annually for Trash-
Off, which is organized through a partnership
between Keep Texas Beautiful and TxDOT. It
is the state's single largest one-day cleanup,
where nearly 200,000 volunteers offer their
time to pick up trash littering Texas high-
ways.
According to TxDOT, since 1994, 14 mil-
lion tons of trash have been picked up. In 2003,
some of the items collected included winning
lottery tickets, a microwave and an envelope
containing cash. Studies have shown that peo-
1
pie are less likely to litter when the roadside is
clean, Lowe said.
More than 77,000 volunteered in 2003's
event, picking up 459 tons of refuse that year.
About 1,400 Adopt-a-Highway groups cleaned
their stretches and 73 communities participat-
ed in the event.
"In Hemphill County, there's a lot of terri-
tory," she said. "There's a lot of places people
could adopt,"
The Canadian Rotary club has adopted
two miles on Highway 22/66, and BP Amoco
adopted a portion of Highway 83 zero to two
miles south of Canadian. Lowe said she helps
volunteers find a piece of highway that is best
for their group and checks the safety of that
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Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 115, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 17, 2005, newspaper, March 17, 2005; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth220672/m1/4/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.