Clean politics? Litter unites parties

WATKINSVILLE - If only politicians in Washington could clean up things this well.

On Saturday morning, a few months after a hard-fought presidential election, Republicans and Democrats from Oconee County came together and harnessed their competitive spirit to help rid the county seat of roadside trash.

After arriving in bumper-stickered cars on opposite sides of Main Street, blue-clad Democrats trudged down Simonton Bridge Road, while red-shirted Republicans made their way down Harden Hill Road, trash bags in hand.

When Watkinsville Mayor Jim Luken called Oconee GOP Chairman Jay Hanley and Oconee Democratic Chairman Jonathan Veit a few weeks ago to pitch the political cleanup, both gladly accepted.

"I want to show people we don't just show up on Election Day," said Hanley, the Oconee County Republicans' young new leader.

Since taking over as chairman, 25-year-old Hanley's tried to jolt any complacency out of longtime Republicans in the heavily Republican county, said friend and fellow organizer Clint Rice.

"They think it's such a red county, they don't have to work for it" - but that's not true, Rice said.

Oconee Democrats, by far a minority in the county, for a while have been stepping up their own activity, Veit said.

The group hosts its own trash pick-ups every year on an adopted stretch of Mars Hill Road, as well as a book club and weekly discussions, he said.

Oconee residents Denise Wilson and Russ Marlowe, who participated Saturday morning, helped get out the vote last year for the Obama campaign. They said that work goes right along with Saturday's clean-up.

"I think it sets a good example and shows we care and we're interested," Marlowe said.

After returning to downtown Watkinsville with their orange trash bags filled, the two sides met up for free coffee at Jittery Joe's.

The epiphany to add a political "hook" to the clean-up struck Luken in the middle of the night as he pondered ways to get people to volunteer, he said.

When Luken and city council members started the annual clean-up five years ago, about seven people showed up, worked for more than three hours and barely made a dent in the litter along Watkinsville streets.

Saturday was a different story.

Showing their organizing skills, the Democrats turned out nearly 30 people for the effort, a landslide victory over the Republicans' five.

The Dems may have juked the numbers a bit, adding a handful of Clarke County friends to the mix. But that would hardly have bothered Luken, who said he was "knocked out" by the turnout.

The political parties weren't the only ones who showed up - members of Christ Community Church, who may soon relocate to downtown Watkinsville, as well as other local residents participated, too.

"We've got a real good group of people here," Luken said.

Council members in the largely affluent city have made it a point recently to clean up the town and focus on aesthetics. Efforts like the annual clean-up are working, Luken said.

"You never saw so much trash," he said of that first gathering a few years ago. "Five years of doing this, you've got people coming back with small bags of trash."

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