News

Oct 24, 2023

Keep Alliance Beautiful

Cub Scouts from Alliance Pack 207 gather after a recent downtown litter cleanup.

Cub Scouts from Alliance Pack 207 gather after a recent downtown litter cleanup. From left: Jonathan Allen, Archer Niemeier, Mitch Weare and Huck Long.

Rain in the forecast equaled a postponed litter cleanup. Saturday morning brought sunshine and wind, but no precipitation. Game on. Four adults, four Cub Scouts and a stretch of downtown Alliance to clean before lunch. A gust here and there tried to help (perhaps hinder) our efforts by blowing trash near waiting bags and suction-cupped, orange grabbers. Still, like the youngest sibling, the breeze tagged along.

My son's pack, as well as other area youth organizations, schedules a day, usually during the spring, to collect trash from a public area. In 2022, the wind's handiwork was much more apparent as we scoured the Hal Murray Softball Complex on the west side of town. The prevailing wind had brought plastic bags and anything else it could carry to rest on fence lines and trees around the four diamonds. This year's setting yielded fewer bags of rubbish and a contrast in what we plucked from the grass, sidewalks and flowerbeds.

The bricks of Box Butte Avenue were relatively quiet as we met in front of the courthouse on Memorial Day weekend. I may be wrong, though I think only a handful of people may have noticed the difference upon returning to work. Cigarette butts, pens squished under patrol car tires, screws and miscellaneous litter under four inches accounted for most of what our crew retrieved around the courthouse block and along the main drag between Sixth and Third Streets. How often do we really see the butts between the bricks after parking? Handfuls of litter came from nearly every flower bed along the avenue, camouflaged by wood mulch. Still, I’d estimate we averaged a little more than 10 pounds of litter per block.

The only people that crossed my path were two women heading to their car while shopping in the 300 block and those ready for an early lunch at The Haven, a community outreach center operated by the Alliance Berean Church.

Silent storefronts spoke instead. Weeds did their best to blend in with flowers at the County's Slagle Annex (former library). A sheet of plywood patched where a car went through the window of what was Dobson Dodge a few decades ago. Walking down the west side, we could see activity a couple doors down from Fifth Street. The Butte Bakery Co-Op is relocating to Bob and Delinda's place where the couple served as insurance agents for years. Improvements also seem to be underway to some extent at the former Elks Lodge. Businesses in every stage of life told tales – from flyers taped to the doors to banners spread over former signage. Last chance for jewelry. No more shoes. The latest business to open, Sweet Pickin's, in a former donut shop (Thiele's pharmacy and gifts prior), was also almost where we ended – steps away from Highway 2 (Third Street).

The boys, all 10 and under, had fun. I have no doubt the experience will resonate as they grow older and strive to live in a clean community. As for Mariah, she blows what we throw away where she will. Take away her toys and somebody else will offer a fast food sack to play with. At least this way it is easy to count on one way for kids to log community service every spring.

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