Students from the Tomorrow Center conducted a clean up of the Whetstone River in Cardington on Aug. 25.
A group of 20 wearing bright orange water vests, divided into two groups, each group setting out from a point behind West Main Street, one working south and one working north in the river.
The students were accompanied by Louann Holmes, coordinator of the re-cycling office with the Morrow County Health Department; Susie Sexton, family and civic engagement coordinator with the Tomorrow Center and Margo Bjorkman, high school science teacher.
Each group spent 90 minutes in the three to four feet of water, retrieving such items as car parts, a tractor tire, and a woman’s purse, the latter intact with billfold and credit cards.
“We turned that over the local police,” said Sexton, who stated the water was “actually very healthy. It was clear
with lots of signs of life.”
Holmes said they had a dumpster from Mid-Ohio take the scrap metal.
Holmes said the clean up was made possible through “part of my litter grant from the Ohio EPA. We said we wanted to do a cleanup of a river”
The students have a recycling club and this was a reward trip.
Although this was the second clean up of the river in as many years, this was the first time the Tomorrow Center students have helped.
At the conclusion of the clean-up the students moved to Maxwell Park where they had a picnic and enjoyed a fishing lesson by Marilyn Weiler.
Matt Stooksbury from Morrow County Soil and Water discussed water sheds and gave demonstrations.
