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Volunteers help clean up Lanier
5 Shore Sweep pic 1
Warren King, Ken Grosch and Dave Seldomridge, volunteers from the Rotary Club of Dawson County, rescued a tattered American flag from a shoreline on Lake Lanier Saturday during the annual Shore Sweep. - photo by Michele Hester Dawson Community News

If you want a clean lake to enjoy, it takes a strong effort by some to make that become a reality.

That effort was put in Saturday when the Lake Lanier Association held its 25th annual Lake Lanier Shore Sweep.

Volunteers from around the Lanier area helped clean up the lake's shoreline in four different counties. War Hill Park, which had more than 100 volunteers, was the staging area for the Shore Sweep in Dawson County.

Some of the trash included bottles, cans and old deflated tubes. Volunteers also used their boats to help pick up floating and heavier debris, such as plastic foam and tires, off the shore and water.

In Dawson County alone, volunteers collected a tractor trailer full of large Styrofoam pieces.

"Every year we get a little bit better," said Joanna Cloud, the association's executive director. "We had no major problems. We had a few hiccups getting dumpsters into their place."

She said at one location, a volunteer jumped into the dumpster to make room for more trash to be dumped into it. She also emphasized how pre-planning helped captains of the different locations guide volunteers to where debris was located.

She also said they retrieved 58 pieces of plastic foam from the shoreline and the water.

"We can always improve," Cloud said, "but 58 pieces (of foam), I'm very happy. ... The appreciation from others isn't why we do it. It's our lake, too. We take a sense of pride to keep it clean."

For more information on Shore Sweep and Lake Lanier Association, visit www.lakelanier.org.