Roadsides are filthy; do you want to help?

trash

The Town of Highlands is a little bit cleaner this week than it was last week, thanks to three Fort Montgomery residents.

The residents (separately, of course, due to the current social distancing protocols) took some time this past weekend to pick up trash along Rt. 9W. It felt, they said, very good to do something for the town at this difficult time.

Typically, several community organizations, including Vision, the Chamber of Commerce, the Fort Montgomery Battle Site Association and the West Point-Highland Falls Rotary Club, gather in both the spring and fall to do a mass clean-up of local highways. This year, because of the pandemic, they weren’t able to do that.

But the sides of the roads are looking worse and worse. So, the volunteers went out to pick up some trash, using the supplies that clean-up coordinator Lynn Edsall has stored from previous clean-ups — safety vests, bright orange garbage bags and tools to easily pick up the garbage.

Edsall is wondering if others in town may have the same desire to want to a) get outside and b) help. If so, she’s urging those people to contact her on how to help.

“We have the supplies we can get to you, and the contacts with the police and highway departments if that is needed,” she said. “If there are individuals, or families who want to take on cleaning up a small area in the next few weeks, please let me know.”

Edsall can be reached at 845-742-2614. There are several “very bad areas” she noted, included the exit ramp from Rt. 9W to the West Point Stony Lonesome gate.