About 50 pitch in to clean up riverbank

Kim Yankee, scoutmaster of the Fort Knox Boy Scout Pack 204, brought along five boys to help clean up trash Saturday along the Ohio River in West Point.

"I want to help them realize how important the environment is," she said.

Yankee and 50 others joined in an effort to clean up the environment and the banks of the Ohio as part of the second annual Ohio River Sweep.

Volunteers picked up thousands of broken bottles and other trash from Louisville to Elizabethtown. Irvin McVey, chairman of event sponsor Concerned Citizens United's River Sweep committee, said people are careless when leaving trash around.

The event started as a way to help get the West Point community cleaned up after a couple of years of hardship. McVey has been pleased with the way that the community has come together to work on the project.

"This is a public service to help clean West Point up," McVey said. "The people have shown up and served."

Jesse Campbell of Radcliff brought her visiting granddaughter, Jessica Campbell of North Carolina, to help.

"I just am here to try and help the best I can," Jesse said.

The Ohio River Sweep is a cleanup for the Ohio and its tributaries, which encompass more than 3,000 miles of shoreline from Pittsburgh, Pa., to Cairo, Ill. The West Point cleanup was scheduled for June 15, but had to be rescheduled because of high water.

Patrick Avery can be reached at 769-1200, Ext. 237, or e-mail him at pavery@mail.the-ne.com.