Reflections on clean-up at Harris Shoals Park

Thank you very much to the nearly 20 people who braved cold temperatures early Saturday morning to clean trash in Harris Shoals Park in Watkinsville. Parker Allen was the youngest and Ed Tant or Joe Walter might have been the oldest members of our community to come pick up garbage around the six acre municipal park. We had a great time getting wet in the creek, removing pipe shards and old tires. Many bags were removed by members of the Watkinsville City Council, including Mayor Jim Luken, members Joe Walter, Samantha Purcell and Brian Brodrick. Storm water expert Joe McGregor gave a brief overview of what was the history of storm water retention in the area. Thanks again to everyone involved in the removal of items ranging from PVC pipe to old tubes to cans and bottles and plastic wrappers. There still is a lot of work to be done to control erosion on the sides of the creek there, and you can count on the Oconee County Democratic Committee for more help in the future.

Carley the OCHS XCountry star carried more garbage bags than anyone. She will make (and really already is) an excellent leader in our community. I hope she goes to UGA, but this person can write her own future quite well almost anywhere.

We had at least two Republicans there, three Oconee County Democrats besides me and several people who fell in love in the park. It is amazing how much garbage is still there. Someone in the late 1960's or early 1970's decided to try and control the erosion with metal. The banks of the creek need a couple of tons of crushed rock badly.