CYPRESS : Parks Are Cleaning Up With Scoopers

Every day, Biff Creager and his younger brother Yogi take a leisurely stroll through the tree-lined paths of Evergreen Park.

Like everyone, they need time to get out of the house and let off some steam. But unbeknown to the pair, at least once and several times during each outing they break the law.

“They can’t help it,” said 14-year-old Joanie Creager, while roller-skating behind her two Australian shepherds. “If they gotta go, they gotta go,” she said. Still, Creager could be fined $100 per indiscretion, under Cypress law.

To help people obey the law, city officials have come up with “oops scoopers.”

“You wear it like a glove,” said Public Works Supt. Bill Raymond. “We give it out to anybody who asks for it.”

Maintenance crews in charge of keeping the city’s 16 parks in order have been handing out the free scoopers for the past year. It is the crews’ responsibility to watch dog owners and approach them with the scoop if a violation occurs.

And if this doesn’t work, the crews are also equipped with business cards that have a picture of a dog squatting in a red circle with a slash through it. This backup measure is considered a “gentle reminder.”

“We hand those out when the issue arises . . . in a noncombative manner,” Raymond said.

Once reminded, people are generally very cooperative, said Felix Yigil, who operators a mower.

Since they started handing out the business cards and scoopers, people have become more conscious of their dogs’ actions, officials said. Many crew members have noticed people who were blatant offenders in the past bringing their own bags to the park after just one reminder.

Raymond said he will ask the City Council in its upcoming budget hearings to allocate money for “oops scooper” vending machines.

The vending machines have been used in Laguna Beach for the past two years and have been fairly successful, said Laguna Beach Police Chief Neil Purcell. “There are some people who faithfully use it,” Purcell said.

Although the scoopers cost 25 cents each in Laguna Beach, Cypress plans to give free tokens to those who want them.