Scouts celebrate Earth Day

Deirdre Newman

Eric Halverson found two socks. Rokyt Dulac came across some beer

bottles. Others from their Cub Scout troop discovered discarded

records and rugs.

The enthusiastic Cub Scouts picked up these sundry items at

Fairview Park and plopped them into trash bags Saturday morning as

part of the first Earth Day in the Park.

Earth Day is celebrated around the world as a day to pay tribute

to the environment.

Fairview Park, more than 100 people showed up to lend helping

hands to the clean-up effort and enjoy typical attractions like free

train rides from the Orange County Model Engineers.

“This is really great because if we hadn’t done it, [the park]

would probably be a lot more...” said Rokyt, 11, as he groped for a

word to finish the sentence.

“Junky,” filled in Ryan O’Boyle, 11, also part of Cub Scout Troop

226.

Earth Day in the Park was organized by Kyle Quatman, a member of

the Fairview Park Friends Committee, which sponsored the event. The

committee is currently working on a large restoration project for the

park, Quatman said.

Rita Wine brought her five-and-a-half year-old daughter Ashley to

help instill pride for the environment in her daughter.

“It’s a way to do something for the community,” Wine said. “It’s

good for our children to take care of our open space.”

Some organizations with interest in the environment set up tables

to educate passersby like the Earth Resource Foundation, based in

Costa Mesa.

Nicole Ramet, youth program coordinator, said she was impressed to

see so many kids take part in the clean-up effort.

“It’s great that kids are out here and understand how important

our daily actions are,” Ramet said. “And if they understand that

recyclables need to be recycled and trash goes in the trash, it’s a

good lesson for the community as a whole.”

As Earth Day participants filed in and out of the parking lot,

they passed the colorful flags of the Goat Hill Gang, which was

putting on a kite demonstration.

Dave Goss, spokesperson for the gang, said it’s important for all

users of Fairview Park to support keeping it clean.

With the wind whipping through the area, the flags made so much

noise that they sounded like a thunderous round of applause for the

Earth Day efforts.