Photo by C.R. Edgerton 



and Beautification, is unprepared for 

 what volunteers find on the banks of 

 the Cape Fear. 



It's nearing the end of the cleanup, 

 and the motorboats and canoes con- 

 gregate around a steep bank littered 

 with a water heater, a bathtub and a 

 bicycle. Some people around me 

 suggest we might be able to haul 

 some of the junk back. 



But when volunteer Ron Potter 

 follows the trail of debris up the 

 more than 50-foot bank, he finds a 

 dump site laden with household and 

 electrical waste, appliances and 

 furniture. Another dump site is a few 

 yards away. 



Potter opens a bag from a recent 

 deposit of household garbage 

 searching for an address. 



"I think a lot of it was what I had 

 expected to find," says Morriss. "But 

 I don't think I expected to find an 

 illegal dump today." 



Morriss says she will report the 

 dumps to the county health de- 

 partment. 



Through cleanups such as The Big 

 Sweep and by regular monitoring of 

 the water in the Cape Fear, people 

 are able to be watchdogs for the 

 environment, says Bill Merritt, who 

 recently applied to join the state's 

 Streamwatch program. 



Merritt says volunteers affiliated 

 with the program blew the whistle 

 last year on a local feed company 

 that was dumping raw sewage and 

 chicken parts into the river. 



Photographs of the dump site are 



taken, and the group prepares to 

 head upriver. Now horsepower takes 

 over and the paddlers get a chance to 

 rest. The powerboaters throw out 

 their towlines and the canoeists take 

 hold. 



Back at the landing, the volunteers 

 get out data cards and tally the trash 

 collected. There are some 30 bags in 

 the piles and a mound of tires and rims. 



"That was just a dent, but I guess 

 you've got to start somewhere," says 

 Bill Merritt. ■ 



Big Sweep Leader Wants to By C.R. Edgerti 



Change Attitudes 



She woke up September 22 with 

 trash on her mind. 

 It was 6 a.m. 



As Big Sweep regional coordinator 

 Diane Warrender sipped on her first 

 cup of coffee, she thought of her 20 

 cleanup sites in the Carteret County 

 area. 



In her mind, she traced the day's 

 planned agenda: 



• Stop at McDonald's to pick up 

 donated orange drink for volunteers. 



• Drive to Pivers Island to put up 

 Big Sweep signs. 



• Meet Ranger Mike Rickart at the 

 Fort Macon State Park cleanup site. 



• Drive to the landing to check on 

 the 90 or more folks who were shov- 

 ing off to clean up Cape Lookout and 

 Shackleford Banks. 



Then she stopped. An hour and a 

 half had passed since she'd first 



opened her eyes. There was no time 

 left to daydream. The day would 

 work itself out. 



Barring bad weather, Big Sweep 

 '90 would be a success. Months of 

 planning would pay off in one four- 

 hour stretch. Hundreds of volunteers 

 would clean as much of North Caro- 

 lina's central beaches as possible. 



Diane Warrender was ready to hit 

 the road running. 



Warrender hasn't always been an 

 environmentalist. 



Until about four years ago, the 

 Salisbury native lived like the 

 majority of Americans. She didn't 

 think twice about what happened to 

 her trash once it left her home, car 

 or boat. 



Continued 



Photo by C.R. Edgerton 



