CLEANUP WEEK MEANS TRASH AND TREASURE

One person's trash is another's treasure. That adage was played out again and again in Cape Girardeau last week during the city's annual spring cleanup.

People in big houses and small, apartments and trailers hauled their junk items to the curb. Then a parade of people in pickup trucks and vans and on bicycles scavenged the refuse and took their pick.

First, let's say that the yearly opportunity to throw away rather large items -- refrigerators, couches and lawn refuse -- is extraordinary. It really promotes a cleaner house and community. The city deserves credit for continuing such a practice even though it means a lot more work for employees.

The quantity of stuff thrown out is massive -- about 600 tons of extra trash. City crews gather more in that single week of spring cleanup than a typical month's worth of trash collections.

The annual spring cleanup goes up there with leaf removal as out-of-the-ordinary city services that residents truly appreciate.