Gary Chamberlain holds up a t-shirt promoting the Road
Warriors litter clean up effort on the 14 miles stretch between
Sedona and Cottonwood.
Vet fights litter war on Hwy 89A between Sedona and Cottonwood
[includes video interview]
SEDONA, AZ (November 11,
2009) - I didn't know that Gary Chamberlain was a Vietnam Vet until
I went to interview him on November 11, 2009 at Randall's Restaurant in
Cottonwood about his fight against litter along Hwy 89A between Sedona
and Cottonwood.
Just so
happened it was Veteran's Day, so it came up.
Gary had set up a table at
Randall's covered with CDs of litter volunteers in action, an American
flag, and information about his efforts. Randall's kept the coffee
flowing and offered us a free breakfast. Randall Hauk and his
Randall's Restaurant at 891 S. Main Street in Cottonwood is a supporter
of Gary and his Road Warriors, giving away a free meal each month to one
person who has volunteered to pick up litter along Hwy 89A.
A Silver Star and Purple Heart
recipient, Gary was reluctant to talk too much about his time spent in
Vietnam, other than to say he was wounded and received those medals.
"It's not something Vets talk about it," said Gary, "but I'm practical
and if it can help get the word out about the litter problems in
Arizona, so be it. I think the Vets can make a big difference in
the litter war. I guess you can say I've turned in my M16 for a
litter stick."
Gary is on a mission to rid not only Arizona but the entire United
States of litter. "I think we've created a model here that can be
replicated state-wide and beyond."
He says growing up on a farm in a small town in
Oregon he learned to appreciate the environment. With an
independent spirit and obvious passion, he has begun a litter crusade
that has grown to 176 volunteers, over $4,000 in donations from local
businesses like Home Depot (donated 30 litter sticks), Fry's, Randall's,
and Pizza Hut; and the support of local municipalities, Sedona Recycles,
Keep Sedona Beautiful, and the Arizona Department of Transportation.
He's used ADOT's Adopt-a-Highway program as the
spring-board to galvanize the business community to support litter
pickup efforts. "When businesses adopt a section of highway along
89A and get their name on a sign, they have a responsibility to keep it
free from litter, and I've tried to bring them together for this," said
Gary. Since he's begun the litter fight, Gary says his Road Warriors
have picked up 515 bags of litter, enough to fill 4 dump trucks.
Once the litter is bagged, it is left on the side of
the road for pickup by ADOT or local recycling groups sort through it.
In July 2009, the Lower Oak Creek Estates recycling group in Cornville
sorted through 78 bags of trash and donated the recyclable components to
Sedona Recycles free of charge.
Randall Hauk, the owner of Randall's Restaurant on 891
S. Main Street in Cottonwood is just one of the many
businesses supporting litter clean up along Hwy 89A.
Next month Sedona Pines will pay the Boy Scouts to
pick up litter along their adopted section of highway along 89A.
Gary says the most prevalent types of litter are
plastic bottles, soda cans, and construction material. "It used to
be the trash haulers," he said, "but they've done a better job covering
their loads so we don't see that type of litter as much."
He also says his litter volunteers pick up a lot of
used drug paraphernalia. "That's a whole other thing," says Gary.
Gary says he would like Arizona to institute a "Bottle Bill"
where the refund value of the container (usually 5 or 10 cents) provides a monetary incentive to return the container for recycling.
"If people could make some money by picking up bottles and cans, I think
it would really help the litter effort," says Gary. He'd also like
to see greater litter awareness education.
In addition to his litter Road Warriors, Gary has
also started the Citizens Special Investigation group. With over
13,000 business cards printed and handed out to the public with the
phone numbers of local law enforcement, the CSI group asks people to
call the local police whenever they see someone littering.
To join Gary Chamberlain's litter war, email him at
89s.csi@gmail.com.
Gary would like to acknowledge the following people: The
original 5 "Road Warriors" from Cornville, Cottonwood and the Village of Oak Creek: Rick Baldauf, Patricia McQuade, Beth Cady, Dianne Gallager and myself;
and the original 3 "Road Warriors-Recyclers" from Cornville, "Lower Oak Creek Estates": Carole Lamb-Jean, Jim Jean and Connie Morgan.
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