bag drying racks...

I had been asked by a Clear Spring School mother about making plastic bag drying racks for those who wash and reuse plastic bags. It is certainly an admirable notion that some could be so thrifty and thorough in meeting environmental responsibilities. Today the first, second and third grade students used the materials we had gathered in last week's nature hike to make the trees. All the students wanted their drying trees to be decorated in addition to their natural beauty, which would have sufficed for me. How can one stand in the way of creativity and enthusiasm?

This was also the pick up day for the 36th annual Trash-a-thon at Clear Spring School, a day in which students and volunteers fan out across the city to gather trash from along the roadsides. Trash-a-thon is an award winning fund raising event invented 36 years ago at Clear Spring School. The students solicit pledges from the community to support the community improvement effort. Usually the students find a few interesting things as they explore our hillsides in search of trash, but this may be the first year that what they've found may help solve a crime. Students found an abandoned suitcase containing evidence from a robbery from the Good Shepherd Thrift Store in Eureka Springs in May 2010. You can read about it in the Lovely County Citizen. The photo below shows Clear Springs School students with Eureka Springs Police Detective Thomas Achord.