VENTURA : Trash Cleanup to Mark Earth Day

With Earth Day coming up on Sunday, Ventura City Councilman Gary Tuttle figures it is time for city residents to stop talking trash and start walking or running with it.

At 6 p.m. today, the public is invited to the Harbortown Hotel parking lot at 1050 Schooner Drive. From there, volunteers will work their way over to the Channel Islands National Park Headquarters, picking up garbage as they go.

About 50 people are expected to participate in the Twilight Trash Bash, which is sponsored by the city and by the Inside Track store, which Tuttle owns.

“It’s easy to talk about doing something about the environment, but people are too busy taking care of their own needs,” said Tuttle, who is an avid runner. “This will give people what they need for fitness, and it will also help clean up at the same time.”

Tuttle suggested possible courses that people can follow either by walking or running and scooping up trash. The most direct route is 1 1/2 miles from start to finish. Another route is about three miles long and goes past a city sewage-treatment plant.

“Over by the entrance of the plant, it’s a mess,” he said. “That’s where most of the people will be concentrating.”

Participants will be supplied with trash bags, but Tuttle recommends that they bring work gloves. Prizes will be awarded to the holder of the ugliest and most unusual trash.

“It’s got to be the grungiest, the piece that’s been out there the longest,” said Tuttle. “I really don’t know what I’ll be looking for. I’ll have to play it by ear, but I’ll know it when I see it.”