SAN PEDRO DAILY, September 9, 2007,Belize,News,Features,Newspapers,Information,Resource,Caribbean,Ambergris Caye

Cleanup Campaign - Before & After

The clean up crowd piled up over 200 bags of trash.

The first block, from Coldwell Building to the lagoon area received a facelift.

The group managed to clear up a large area, providing a welcome sight for those exploring the neighborhood.

A meeting was convened at the San Pedro Town Council between the Department of Environment, Town Council representatives, San Pedro Police Department officers, Traffic Department officers and invited guests. The purpose of the meeting was to get everyone familiarized with the correct procedures regarding the issuance of littering tickets in San Pedro Town. As mentioned in last week’s Illegal Dumping article, officials will be able to issue tickets to offenders. However, the penalties referred to in said article are the fines given on the mainland. Officials in San Pedro have agreed that littering tickets on the island should carry the fine of $500 per individual and $1,000 per company. Ticketing is slated to commence after the Clean Up Campaign which ends on November 3rd.
Prior to the Clean Up Campaign, supporters have engaged in a “before and after” demonstration. Every week, a designated block will get cleaned up. This way, islanders, neighbors, and guests may see the visuals of having a clean community. This past weekend, September 1st, saw the initiation of the demonstration blocks with an entire block getting a much needed face lift. The block chosen extended from the Coldwell Building to the Tropic Air Cargo and back to the lagoon. 203 bags of garbage were picked up, filling two dump trucks full of trash.
The “before and after” demonstrations blocks and clean ups will continue every weekend during the month of September. This coming Saturday, September 8th, anyone wanting to help may join the “clean up crowd” when they tackle all that area from “The Round-a-bout” to the San Pedro Bridge. The fun is slated to begin at 7:00 a.m., so bring your rakes, gloves, trash bags and energy to help. The Reef Village has offered to donate $50 for trash bags and Kathy from Beachin’ Kitchen has offered to donate the same.
In an interview with organizer Tammy Peterson, The San Pedro Sun found out that everyone is getting in on the clean up bandwagon. This campaign has not only stayed in town but it has extended to North Ambergris Caye were residents are taking pride in their surroundings, making sure that they are clean and uncontaminated. The Reef Village, The Cloisters and Bermuda Landing are all getting not only their immediate areas clean, but the roads and beaches as well.
For further information on Ambergris Caye’s Clean Up Campagn, kindly contact Tammy Peterson at tammyinbelize@yahoo.com or call 620-0009. Read More

Firefighter turns to skydiver
in free time

When he isn't fighting fires or saving the ill and injured, he's 13,000 feet in the sky - soaring above cities, mountains and even clouds. Yet Rich Grimm is no comic-book superhero.
An Ontario firefighter and emergency medical technician since 1984, Grimm is just an avid "jumper" who started his company, Tsunami Skydivers Inc., for thrill-seekers like himself.
Grimm, 47, said he was vacationing in Belize six years ago when he first came up with the idea to hold his annual "Boogie in Belize."
"`Boogie' is a word we use in skydiving for a gathering of a bunch of jumpers for a week or so," said Grimm, who has made almost 4,000 jumps since he started the sport in 1991.
"When you're in free fall over the island, it's just spectacular," he said. "It's probably one of the most beautiful places in the world."
Each year, Grimm takes a group to Belize for the good, old-fashioned fun of leaping out of a plane.
While there, he gives away supplies to schoolchildren and medical equipment from the Ontario Fire Department to emergency authorities on the island.
Grimm insisted he's hooked on the sport because of the friends he's made in the skydiving world - not necessarily the adrenaline. "It's a rush, but it's just a fun thing to do," Grimm said. "You just kind of step into vast openness and hear a lot of wind. You don't have much of a sensation of falling, unless clouds are going by you."
Grimm said he jumped a few times in 1980, but decided to stop because the bulky, military surplus gear skydivers wore then didn't make him feel all that safe.
After the equipment and gear evolved into the hi-tech, safety-engineered versions used today, Grimm said he and several other firefighters went on a jump.
"I was hooked," he said. "I got my skydiving license in about four weeks after that because I loved it so much."
Although he says he tries to make about 200 jumps a year, Grimm said he doesn't see the activity as risk-taking.
"Fighting fires is more dangerous by far," he said.
Grimm, who will retire from the department in three years, plans to continue his passion long into old age.
But for now, it's ensuring public safety by day and jumping in his off-time.
nd with the regular stressors of his day job, Grimm said skydiving is kind of like his therapy.
"If you don't jump for a couple weeks, you start missing it and get the urge," Grimm said. "Every once in a while, my wife'll send me to the drop zone if I start getting cranky and I haven't jumped in a couple weeks." Read More

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We make a living by what we get,
but we make a life by what we give
Winston Churchill

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