Green really starts March 17 in Liberty County. However, some volunteers will be wearing green for more than St. Patrick’s Day.
Keep Liberty Beautiful will host its first 2012 Great American Cleanup on March 17 in the east end of the county. Yes, we know many other people will be wearing green that day and celebrating St. Pat’s Day, but we will be cleaning up Islands Highway and some surrounding areas starting at 9 a.m. at the corner of Islands Highway and Kings Road. We encourage local citizens who like clean, green spaces on our roadways to join us for a few hours before they begin their Irish celebrations.
We also will hold city cleanups March 24 in Midway, Allenhurst and Gum Branch. Each of these events will begin at 8:30 a.m. with the meeting locations for Gum Branch and Allenhurst at their respective city halls and the meeting location for Midway at the Midway Police Department.
At the events, we will provide all cleanup supplies, a picnic lunch after the cleanup and official KLB “Green Starts Here” T-shirts for all volunteers.
Volunteer cleanups around our community help supplement the government-coordinated cleanups that many of our municipalities, county government and the Department of Transportation provide. If you are paying attention to our roadways, you know we need to do all we can to keep these areas clean. Trashy, littered roadways are certainly not the impression that we want to give to visitors to our community.
As a local citizen, my first priority is that I don’t want to have to live with trashy, littered roads and green spaces.  I know many thousands of other Liberty Countians feel the same way.
Litter control is costly, and the fact that we have to use taxpayer money to pick up other people’s trash because they are too lazy or too careless is frustrating to me. Disposing of garbage is a simple process. The ground is not a trash can and neither are storm drains or the back of a truck. I cannot figure out why some people cannot be responsible for their own litter.
Unfortunately, that is not the case, so volunteer cleanups really help to keep our county looking better. Hopefully, they serve as a reminder to those who are not so careful with their trash.
A list of the dates for the other municipal-sponsored city cleanups are below, so I hope you will make the effort to join us in cleaning up an area of our community that matters to you this spring. To participate, call 880-4888 or email klcb@coastalnow.net to register for the location you are interested in.
We ask people to register ahead so that we can make sure that we have enough supplies and food at each location. Also, make sure you thank your local government officials when you see them for co-sponsoring these city events. We all need to take greater responsibility for our communities. Citizenship — and the freedoms and benefits we have because of our citizenship — should not be taken for granted.  Make a difference where you live.
Hope to see you wearing the green March 17 with a litter-reacher and garbage bag in hand. Green starts here, and Erin Go Bragh!

Upcoming events
City-wide cleanups
March 24: Allenhurst, Gum Branch and Midway
April 14: Flemington and Riceboro
April 28: Hinesville and Walthourville