Clean-up and recycle day was a success

The idea of cleaning up Havre and recycling items seems to be gaining steam in Havre.

Candi Zion, chair of Recycle Hi-Line, said she hauled four pickup truck loads of plastic from downtown Havre to Walmart after Saturday’s Havre Pride Day. The she brought two more loads in her horse trailer.

“They were all packed solid,” she said.

Recycling is held every month at 1st Street and 5th Avenue. Twice a year, it is combined with Havre Pride Day, when volunteers sweep out into the city to pick up trash from curbs, gutters and sidewalks.

“It was great,” said Kim Cripps, the longtime chair of Havre Pride.

More than 70 people came out to volunteer, she said,

“People just showed up and asked if they could help out,” she said.

The recycling was especially popular, she said.

One family had just moved to Havre from Chicago, she said. “They were excited that we had something like this, and they wanted to get involved.”

Scouts were among the biggest groups of volunteers for the event, she said.

“It’s always great to see people come out and volunteer,” she said,

“All of the Dumpsters were full,” she said. “When we left at noon, they had to put traps on the Dumpsters so things wouldn’t blow away.”

Cripps said the improvement is noticable around town. Sidewalks and gutters look a lot cleaner, she said.

“We want to thank everybody who came out,” she said. “But they shouldn’t let Havre Pride end there,” she said.

“If you see something on the sidewalk, pick it up,” she said.

But over the weekend, she said, she was depressed to see new litter being thrown on the lawns of the community.

Some of the people delivering new phone books just heaved them out of their cars onto laws, she said, where she predicted they would be rained upon and become trash.

Nonetheless she said she was proud of Havre Pride and the people who came out to clean up.