| Keep it clean and take out the trash at Texas Trash-Off |
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Those people are not criminal offenders sentenced to community service. Instead, they'll be participating in the annual Don't Mess with Texas Trash-Off. The event, co-sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation and Keep Texas Beautiful, is the largest one-day cleanup event in the state and is expected to draw almost 100,000 participants this year. “We get quite a few phone calls from folks that are not happy about the areas that they live in, and they want to help out,” said Laura Lopez, public information officer for the TxDOT San Antonio district. “That helps out, because it's money that's saved that the taxpayers don't have to pay for. This is for organizations that want to keep their hometown, their farm roads or whatever the case may be, to keep it as clean as possible.” Though organizers expect a sizable crowd for the Trash-Off, they admit that the popularity of the Adopt-a-Highway program has waned in recent years. The program, once peaked at close to 4,000 groups and has declined to about 3,700. “We're not quite sure why our Adopt-a-Highway numbers have dropped, but we do know that according to a recent study, half of Texans say they're willing to participate in the program,” TxDOT Travel Division Director Doris Howdeshell said. Former TxDOT District Engineer Bobby Evans founded the Adopt-a-Highway program in 1985. The program began in Tyler and has become a fixture in every state and several countries. In Texas, participating groups agree to pick up trash on two-mile stretches of highway four times a year for two years. “It's an opportunity to volunteer and help us out, to keep Texas clean,” Lopez said. Log on to dontmesswithtexas.org or ktb.org for more information on the Trash-Off. Clint Hale | 210SA
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