A Quarterly Publication of Rivers Alive

So far in 2014, there have been 120 cleanup events around the state joining 6,142 volunteers who picked up over 335,000 pounds of trash and recyclables! There are over 20 more cleanups scheduled through the end of the year and many more who haven't yet recorded their final numbers.

Spooky Finds Along the River
By Cheryl Ashley-Serafine

There is not much more unsettling than finding a head “floating in a jar” on a river cleanup. 

A group of 12 teachers and four instructors participated in the Paddle Georgia trip down the Chattahoochee this past June.  The group was sponsored by Georgia River Network, Captain Planet Foundation, National Park Service, and Cobb County Watershed Stewardship.


During the 4^th day of Paddle Georgia along the Chattahoochee, a cleanup was conducted along the stretch of the river where industrial parks and waste water treatment plants are readily seen from our boats.  We were intent on cleaning the snags and small sandy spots as we paddled along that stretch of the river as well as trying to one up the offbeat “treasures” found along the way.  One of the teachers, Karen Hill from South Gwinnett High School, found what initially appeared to be a picture of Michael Jackson floating in Nescafe coffee jar- embedded in sand.  One member of our group did not want us to mess around with it saying there was probably bad” juju” attached to the face in the jar.  While waiting for the shuttle bus to transport paddlers from the take out back to camp, we emptied the water in the jar (amidst more warnings of doom and gloom) swearing that we could still smell the instant coffee. ……the contents became more mysterious……  Behind the photo of a young woman were two pieces of paper written in Spanish, dated in the mid 70’s.  Translations were attempted- but a visit to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner that night solved the mystery of the message.

The wait staff was asked to translate the messages found with the photo and our curiosity was piqued as one of the staff members reading over the shoulder of the waitress who was translating became wide eyed and was making the sign of the cross. He could not get away from the note fast enough.  It really was some bad “juju”. It was a curse known as a Santaria.  It was written in the mid 1970’s against someone from Texas who ran a flower business and the person making the curse did not want any competition here in Atlanta from the woman in the picture.  The curse in the jar was thrown into the river almost 40 years ago.   Shivers ran through the folks at the table- the believers, anyway.

We did a Google search and found a person with the same name as the one named in the curse and she had a flower shop.  And was the curser successful?  Who actually got the bad luck?  We will never know…..  So the next time you are doing a cleanup- stay away from the jars with the faces, let the river run its course along with anything that may be attached to contents.

Interview with Rivers Alive Board Member, Bonny Putney!

Go back in time to your beginnings and describe how it all evolved into your transformation as the “Trash Queen”.
My "Trash Queen" roots go back to early 2000 when I first joined the board of Lake Lanier Association after living on Lake Lanier for many years and finally having time to get involved. The annual Shore Sweep was the project I choose to concentrate my efforts. There were a couple truths I discovered very quickly: everyone hates trash, everyone can help, it takes no special skills or equipment, and you can create change that you can see NOW. It's also fun!  I was so enthusiastic and got so many people involved, people started to call me "that trash lady" which evolved to "Trash Queen". 
 
Talk about some of the people that changed your perspective and helped to nurture your commitment to cleaning rivers.
My first real experience in river trash started at the first Paddle Georgia in 2005 along the Chattahoochee River. I had never been on the river south of Atlanta, and I could not believe the trash. We all started picking up balls and other trash as we paddled and I knew I wanted to help. Sally Bethea from Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Rangers from the National Park Service and others helped me put together a paddle cleanup later that year below Buford Dam. I was hooked! Paddle cleanups are common now, but back then only a few paddlers ever had ever gone out to pick up trash in an organized event. 
We hold a trash day each year on Paddle Georgia which I help organize for Georgia River Network. Getting in the river so close to the trash totally changes people's perspective. I like to think I have helped the Georgia trash revolution evolve from just walking river banks once a year to being in the lakes and rivers with small boats getting to the trash and cleaning all year long.
 
Tell us a little about your time as a Rivers Alive board member and what you feel you brought to the table.
I have been on the Rivers Alive board since 2003. I have served proudly with many corporations, municipalities and non-profits over the years. I hope I have been able to bring my "hands-on" experience to the table along with my enthusiasm for our mission. I have made many lifelong friends and hope I have been a positive example for what can be done. I do cleanups almost once a week especially during the fall and have no plans on stopping. 
 
Finally, feel free to share any stories about cleanups funny, sad, happy, unique, freaky or even scary.
My favorite cleanup stories are around Lake Lanier during the 2006-2009 drought. The lake dropped 20 feet below full pool. Everyone was moaning about the level but a bunch of us got busy and started cleaning up the exposed trash. We found everything including cars, cell phones, major appliances, cheap light beer cans, furniture, abandoned boats...false teeth.. it was all in the bottom of Lake Lanier. I made many new friends including some current fellow board members, got a job with the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, and helped remove over 100 tons of trash from the lake. I also purchased a Kiln to melt the old glass bottles I was finding in the lake.  This art hobby is now responsible for many people driving around with dirty old bottles they find for me to melt. The annual Rivers Alive awards are made from many of those very bottles. 

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