BEAVER LAKE — A mustache trimmer along with its charger won the prize for oddest item found in and around Beaver Lake during Saturday's annual lake cleanup effort.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hosts the event at the lake every year but had to skip last year because the high water levels made it too potentially dangerous for volunteers picking up trash.
Missing a year is believed to have contributed to the high numbers of trash items picked up this year, organizers agreed.
"The (trash receptacles) were very full," saidWendy Cravens, director of the Benton Couty Solid Waste District, which has worked with the Corps on the cleanup project since 2005.
"From what we heard from people who have been here in other years, it's probably twice as much as normal," she said.
Park Ranger Alan Bland said the approximately 250 volunteers spread all over the lake with check-in points at four marinas: Prairie Creek Park, Hickory Creek Park, Rocky Branch Park or Lost Bridge North Park.
A prize was given for the oddest item that was found during the cleanup efforts - and the mustache trimmer kit won. It wasn't the only strange thing found by volunteers, however. There was a nice wicker basket with a dog skull inside, a phone and golf shoes - just to name a few. Some of the oddest things that have been found in years past include a replica of the Statue of Liberty and a deer mount, Bland said.
What seemed to disturb some volunteers even more, however, was the sheer numbers of the most common items, diapers and beaded polystyrene containers.
Lee Chalmers and his wife, Michelle Viney, used his mother's personal water craft to troll the lake for trash.
"Litter education is important a lot of people don't realize the significance of (litter)," Vieny said.
The couple gathered seven large trash bags' worth of trash.
"We didn't know how we were going to fit it all on the jet ski but we did," Chalmers aid.
Although he was frustrated with the amount of trash in the lake, Chalmers said he was pleased with the number of volunteers who joined the efforts.
"I was very glad to see that," he said. "It shows that people are cognizant of the fact that (the litter) is a problem and they want to take action."
News, Pages 2 on 09/27/2009