07/09/2012 - Dog River Hero frustrated with Keep Mobile Beautiful

This is the way to get morning exercise - so beautiful.

When I pedaled up to Dog River Park I was stunned. The shoreline was cleaner than I've ever seen it. "Wow," I thought, "The City of Mobile is finally getting serious about cleaning up its river litter."

Further up Dog River I was completely dumbfounded. The shoreline on one of the most littered properties along Dog River was clean and based on the number of garbage bags I saw, this was a major cleanup event going on. They were picking up every little scrap of trash. This was just one of many garbage bag piles.

Then I found out the truth - the City of Mobile still doesn't care about area waterways. This Dog River cleanup is a one man volunteer project being done by a fellow nick-named Wolf Dog who lives in Semmes, AL. (Cool name for someone cleaning Dog River, eh?) I should have known better than to think the City of Mobile was behind a project to remove litter from Dog River Park and the rest of Dog River.

According to Wolf Dog, Bob Haskins of Keep Mobile Beautiful laughed when he was asked by Wolf Dog for help to get the trash picked up. Here is a guy, getting bags donated by Platt's Food Store in Creola, working full time for free to Keep Mobile waterways Beautiful, like Chickasaw Creek, Escatawpa River, and now Dog River and no one in Mobile will help? Shame on the City of Mobile! Shame on ADEM! Shame on all the local Environmental Groups and Government agencies! The City of Mobile can find $500,000 to build a new park but it can't find one-tenth of that to pay one person to keep area waterways clean? The guy has to go to Creola to get garbage bags? Wolf Dog is doing a better job than the Coastal Cleanup Event using hundreds of people. Because of one individual the banks of Dog River will soon be so clean that there will be no trash in any of my photos. Praise be to Cliff - aka Wolf Dog - he is Dog River's hero. Everyone connected with Keep Mobile Beautiful should be fired for not taking what this guy is doing seriously and providing some resources to aid in his mission which ultimately will reduce the pressure on the City to do something about the trash along the local rivers. Hey, if the garbage has been removed, everyone is happy.

Wolf Dog's Quest (1 of 4)

Wolf Dog's Quest (2 of 4)

Wolf Dog's Quest (3 of 4)

Wolf Dog's Quest (4 of 4)

Wolf Dog hasn't cleaned this area of Dog River, yet. The plants are devouring the television that no one with marine authority will remove from the water. 

The City of Mobile Public Works, the City Council of Mobile, and the Mayor of Mobile are evil for STILL not having a single person removing the public's garbage from Mobile's urban waterways and shorelines on a regular basis. Get off the Airbus Gus and get someone removing the hazardous materials from area waterways or at least help Wolf Dog do it.

Thanks to Wolf Dog, scenes like these taken today, where there is always trash in the background, may be a thing of the past, at least until the next big rain...