Coastal Clean Up to honor Long’s legacy
Each year in Franklin County several tons of trash and debris are removed from its coastline thanks to local volunteers who join the annual International Coastal Clean Up.
Their actions protect water and soil quality and wildlife habitat. It also shields human health, by lessening exposure to toxins and injury. From Apalachicola to Bald Point State Park, volunteers can show their care for the coastline by participating at one of 10 clean-up sites across the county this Saturday, Sept. 21 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Clean-up supplies are provided. Volunteers are asked to bring sun protection and a refillable drinking bottle, and to dress to get messy, including close-toed shoes. Insect repellant can also be handy.
Meet up locations include:
Apalachicola: Battery Park, Abercrombie Landing and Seafood Landing Park (Two Mile)
Carrabelle: City Pavilion and Carrabelle Beach
Eastpoint: Downtown at Mangia 850 restaurant and Millender Park
St. George Island: Lighthouse Park and Dr. Julian Bruce St. George Island State Park
Lanark Beach: The public access at Arizona Street
Details can be found on Apalachicola Riverkeeper’s website at apalachicolariverkeeper.org.
This year’s clean-up is dedicated to the legacy of the late Ada Long, who coordinated the annual event on behalf of Apalachicola Riverkeeper for more than 15 years through 2023. Long, who also established the SGI Trash Patrol, now headed by Jo Ellen Pearman, was widely recognized for her leadership in multiple community improvement activities.
“The natural world we live in is the greatest gift we have,” Long once said, and she put that sentiment into action in her good deeds throughout Franklin County.
Pearman encouraged volunteers to come out for Saturday’s clean-up, and thanked the people who donated to the St. George Trash Patrol for t-shirts. supplies, gloves, etc. to keep the group active in keeping the island clean.
Donations can be made with a check made out to Keep Franklin County Clean, and sent to Pearman at 309 Gibson Street, St. George Island, FL 32328. Donors are asked to put St. George Island Trash Patrol on the memo line at the bottom of the check. All donations of $50 or more will receive a free hat.
Apalachicola Riverkeeper organizes the International Coastal Clean Up in Franklin County. Collaborative partners include the Ocean Conservancy, Keep Franklin County Beautiful, Franklin County’s solid waste and recycling department, and the county’s Parks and Recreation.
For more information contact Susan Macken or Georgia Ackerman at Apalachicola Riverkeeper, 850-653-8936 or info@apalachicolariverkeeper.org
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.