April 11, 2012
Wednesday PM

CAN'T BEAT THIS. What do Earth Day, Clean up Week, Adopt-a-Highway have in common? Why, it's --Taking Pride in Ketchikan! Why do I hear people always talking about how trashy our town looks compared to Sitka and Las Vegas? -- Those are the two I just heard mentioned. WE HAVE AN ANSWER, READ ON. Does Ketchikan have more trash, more wind, less garbage cans, more bears and dogs, more fast food wrappers and bags, more cigarettes, more bottles and cans? We can pick up 20,000# of trash in an afternoon, as the high schools did last year, and the next day have litter back on the streets. The City has three full-time employees and the Borough has one working all summer long on public property which helps, but I still walk by a lot of cigarette butts and cans in the gutters and along sidewalks.

SO HERE'S JUST ONE IDEA TO HELP. Ketchikan Youth Initiatives is launching a project to provide small, 9 x 13" biodegradable plastic litter bags for citizens to put in their cars, in their purse or pocket and use to pick up trash they see around. ALPAR is giving KYI a small grant that will purchase 1,000 bags. These bags will be customized to show the motto "Take Pride in Ketchikan," the slogan, "Litter makes us all look trashy," the KYI logo and the logos of the Borough, the City of Ketchikan and the City of Saxman all of whom support this effort. In order to purchase more bags, and to benefit the skatepark development campaign, local businesses can make a $200 donation and add their logos to the bags to increase the number of bags we can purchase. Not only does this offer give our community's businesses the opportunity to make a tax-deductible donation to the KYI akatepark campaign but it also rewards the donor with the opportunity to be featured in a week-long PSA Rotator on KTKN/KGTW and a special "double your spot" advertising offer. Watch for skateoarders around town promoting this project to local businesses...or, please, email Bob Fultz at bobzplace@gmail.com to get info about how to participate.

Bobbie McCreary
Ketchikan, AK

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