Pull Together: Cranmer clean-up day is a time to remember, and to act

There’s litter aplenty, pinned on west-facing chain link fences or tree branches.

Dealing with this ongoing eyesore is all our responsibility, but an event tomorrow is a perfect opportunity to care for a beloved part of town and pay honor to the memory of a beloved citizen.

It’s the annual clean-up day organized by friends and family of the late Jerry Cranmer, who was murdered on Sept. 10, 2009. Cranmer’s life-long spirit of community service is given continued action in the annual Waterfront Park cleanup. It’s been a small annual project so far, and his nephew Grant Polson is asking for plenty more help this year. On Sept. 10, the group will meet at 9 a.m. at Waterfront Park. Those who volunteer are encouraged to bring their own weeding and gardening tools, as well as anything that could be used to spruce up the grounds.

With enough people, the many areas of Waterfront Park, which saw greater use than ever this summer, can get a full sprucing. Those winds blow debris from west to east, and the trash is not limited to land. Look in the waters of the Columbia and the Hood River, on the banks and riprap and you can see plenty of detritus symbolizing the popularity of this place.

Most people who recreated along the river are respectful, and clean up after themselves, and their, ahem, dogs. But some people do not. They have a picnic or post-paddle lunch, or fish from the banks, and leave more of a trace than they should, on shore or in the water.

The idea of policing the waters is an intriguing one put forth by reader LaRayne Kayfes of Hood River, who suggests that folks with stand up paddle boards, or kayaks, or other craft, might take a bucket out and remove litter from the water. There’s plenty of debris that is painful to see but best accessible to people with the right equipment.

The Jerry Cranmer community service day is not only a good day to honor a man’s memory, but to consider the beauty of our natural resources and resolve to do more, be it here or other shores, to do a better job of cleaning up our act.