Hundreds volunteer for beach cleanup

RON RAPOSA 
Staff Writer

From Oceanside to Del Mar and Escondido to Fallbrook, hundreds of North County residents pitched in Saturday to help with the 18th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day. 

With 75 percent of 450 statewide sites reporting, about 36,000 volunteers had picked up 511,000 pounds of trash, according to the California Coastal Commission, the event's main sponsor.

Throughout San Diego County, 2,500 volunteers signed up for the effort, said Derek Turbide, executive director of I Love A Clean San Diego. 

Turbide's group, along with San Diego BayKeeper, organized the county's cleanup, which went from 9 a.m. until noon. 

As the early morning fog began to lift from Grandview Beach in Encinitas, city stormwater program manager Kathy Weldon and several others signed up volunteers at a small table stocked with green and blue trash bags, protective latex gloves and bottled water donated by Trader Joe's. 

Among the volunteers were City Councilwoman Maggie Houlihan, who said she was working on her fourth beach cleanup. 

"I've found hypodermic needles and balloons," as well as the most common item found by volunteers ---- cigarette butts, Houlihan said 

The Hodson family, Ron and Debra and 7-year-old Sasha, were volunteering for the second year. 

"We go to the beach often and we kind of like to clean everything up," said Ron Hodson. 

About 75 volunteers came for the Encinitas cleanup, said Paul Hartman, city stormwater engineer. They picked up 2,291 pieces of trash; 1,392 pieces were smoking-related, primarily cigarette butts, he said. 

Near the Oceanside Pier, about 350 volunteers signed up at a table stocked with bagels, nutrition bars and water donated by several businesses, said Linda Isakson, a program specialist with the city's Water Utilities Department. 

At the table, Deanna Cerda of Temecula was signing in five Boy Scouts and their families who had come down from Temecula. The Scouts were working on earning environmental merit badges, she said. 

Nearby, Oceanside residents Cooper Van Grol, 20, and Angie Koopman, 19 were picking up cigarette butts from a parking lot and placing them in a clear plastic bag. "We go to MiraCosta College," Koopman said. "Posters for the event were all over the place." 

The cleanup didn't stop at the beaches. It included at inland streams, which drain into the sea. Santa Margarita River in Fallbrook, San Dieguito River Park in Escondido and the San Luis Rey River in Oceanside were among the sites. 

Three hundred people volunteered for the creek cleanup in Oceanside this year, Isakson said. Last year, creek area volunteers found one of the most interesting pieces of litter of the cleanup ---- a discarded fire department dummy, Isakson said. 

The lifelike figure at first frightened volunteers, who thought they had discovered a body, she said.

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