Dogged cleanup

Danette Goulet

She calls it her doggie’s Disneyland.

That’s why Gilda Thompson and her husband take the time each month to

make sure Dog Beach remains the happiest place on earth for her pooch by

making sure its clean.

They are just two of many dedicated members of the Preservation

Society of Huntington Dog Beach who help at a monthly rally and cleanup

day.

On the second Sunday of each month a core group of the society’s

10,000 members, led by society president and founder Martin Senat, set up

shop, handing out teal garbage bags and plastic gloves to all those

willing to help.

Senat started the society in 1998.

“I was walking along the beach with my dog when someone said the city

was going to close it down,” Senat recalls. “I rushed up and stopped it.

I went to City Council and made suggestions including opening a nonprofit

that would pay for everything down here -- doggie bags, cleaner

everything. And so we did.”

Once formed, the organization assumed all the expenses of Dog Beach

including four beach cleaners a day, seven days a week and a dog trainer.

“Dog Beach is 3/4 mile -- probably the cleanest 3/4 of a mile the city

has. We turned the whole thing around,” Senat said matter of factly with

pride.

On cleanup day, Senat and his crew of members and volunteers set up a

tent on the bluffs overlooking Dog Beach where they hand out pamphlets

and information, sell Dog Beach T-shirts and hats, which Senat designed,

and offer free pizza and doggie treats.

Although the organization sells the gear at the monthly rally and

cleanup day it has little to do with the money, Senate said.

“It takes $10,000 a month to run this, we certainly don’t make that

here,” he said, his English accent pronounced.

Meanwhile in the sands below, teams of volunteers make a sweep of the

beach, cleaning up whatever the ocean has kicked up onto the sand or

whatever careless beachgoers might have left behind.

Volunteers sign up for one-hour shifts as early as 8:30 a.m. and as

late as 3 p.m.

When the organization first began the cleanup day, as many as 600

people would volunteer. Now that problems have diminished -- those who

use the beach are trained to pick up after their dog and any others --

and with the imminent threat of closure no longer looming, the number has

dropped to about 50.

That 50 is more than enough, Senat said, adding that this month by

late morning and early afternoon people came back saying there was

nothing left for them to pick up.

That may be because of folks like the Thompsons.

It is the Thompson’s practice each time they take their Rottweiler

Contessa down to Dog Beach to clean up, not only after her, but any other

wayward hounds or humans, too.

“We like to go down there and help to clean up after the dogs,” she

said. “When we first started going down there it was a mess with

Styrofoam cups and bottles. All the members of the preservation society

-- we always clean up when we’re down there if someone left a mess.”

It is that cohesive attitude that keeps Dog Beach clean, Senat said.

The group now has the support of many of the lifeguards and police who

once had to police the beach for careless pet owners, Senat added. Now

they have little to worry about on that strip.

Volunteers sign ahead of time on line for one-hour shifts as early as

8:30 a.m. and as late as 3 p.m. for these cleanup days, Senat said.