By JIM FOSTER
Special to the Parade
Unless you live in a shell, I would think you have heard all the Winter Texan jokes. These jokes, sometimes funny and sometimes not, are along the lines of some jokes about a certain Texas university and ethnic areas with Polish populations.
Well, jokes are jokes but getting down to business is something else. So now, these visitors from the northern parts to our country will be on the move to help the Island and environment.
This month, folks from all over the mid-west and northern states will gather on the sand to work for better beaches and solve the growing problem of the piles of trash washing up on our beaches.
Each year, Texas’ beaches are the final destination of large amounts of marine debris due to a convergence of currents in the Gulf of Mexico. Since 1986, Adopt-A-Beach volunteers have picked up enough trash to fill a line of dump trucks 90 miles long, making it one of the most successful volunteer programs in the nation. Volunteers record data on the trash to learn more about the causes of marine debris and to help mitigate pollution along Texas’ 367 miles of coastline.
The Winter Texan Beach Cleanup is one of three all-volunteer seasonal cleanups coordinated through the Adopt-A-Beach program of the Texas General Land Office.
Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson is calling for volunteers for the 17th Annual Winter Texan Beach Cleanup Friday, February 8, at Edwin Atwood Park, Access Road 5, and Highway 100.
Registration, coffee and donuts will be offered at 8:30 a.m. The cleanup begins at 9 a.m. and lasts until 12 noon. Volunteers will gather afterward to see who found the most unusual item.
Who: Winter Texans
What: 17th Annual Winter Texan Beach Cleanup
When: Friday, Feb. 8, 2013
8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. – registration
9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. – cleanup
11:30 to 12 noon – What Did You Find?
Where: Edwin Atwood Park, Access 5, and Highway 100
The Texas General Land Office’s Adopt-A-Beach program is funded primarily by private contributions. To help out, or for more information, call the Adopt-A-Beach program at (877) TXCOAST or visit the website at www.texasadoptabeach.org.
