They're cleaning up Morgan City

Morgan City should be feeling a little cleaner than it was when Saturday started. Maybe about a ton cleaner.
About 25 volunteers from all over the east end of St. Mary Parish showed up at 8 a.m. Saturday beneath the bridge at Federal Avenue and Greenwood Street. They picked up trash as part of a Great American Clean-Up anti-litter event that focused on the bridges and historic areas of the city.
The Great American Clean-Up Day is a national event, but the local date and the clean-up target were chosen by the Keep St. Mary Beautiful organization, originally founded by former Louisiana first lady Alice Foster.
“This site here was basically a committee decision based on the entrance and exit ramps being highly polluted with trash,” said Project Director Rodney Grogan, the Patterson mayor.
At the last clean-up event, volunteers picked up 2,152 pounds of trash in the Mustang Trail area near Garden City. The next Great American Clean-Up site will probably be in the Baldwin area, Grogan said.
“When I leave here, we have a cemetery cleaning in Patterson, because it’s filthy,” Grogan said. “I’ve basically declared the whole week from April 25 to May 2 as clean-up week.”
The first volunteers to arrive included local officials – Mayor Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi of Morgan City, Mayor Louis Ratcliff and Mayor Pro Tem Jacki Ackel of Berwick, and St. Mary Parish Council member Steve Bierhorst, among others.
Then the cavalry arrived.
Seven Morgan City High School Junior ROTC members came to the clean-up site, led by Col. Cory Williams. The clean-up was the JROTC’s 52nd community service or fund-raising event since August.
“That’s part of what we try to instill in our kids in the ROTC program -- citizenship, teamwork and community,” Williams said. “I’ve got a core of kids who tend to help out. I’ve got a few others that have a few other things going on, such as prom. But we typically don’t have a big issue getting kids involved. …
“This is something that I hope and my colleagues hope, that if they catch the spark, it’ll be life-long.”