Saturday, April 24, 2010

River Cleanup Pushes North

Lisa Santangelo, the intrepid and ubiquitous volunteer and Chairperson of Middletown's Democratic Town Committee supervised a crew of local volunteers, Alternative Incarceration Workers and municipal volunteers to move the Harbor Park cleanup about another hundred yards north along the Connecticut River Saturday.

The event was co-sponsored by the Middletown Lions Club and the Jonah Center.


The crews, with chainsaws and loppers, took down junk trees, vines and risked poison ivy to remove bramble and trash.  They moved beyond the solid brownstone walls and past the old ferry launch to clear access to the river.  They also planted day lilies and ferns along the fencing where clearing opened the view of the river last year.

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4 comments:

  1. Lisa Santangelo, Lions Community Service CoordinatorApril 25, 2010 at 9:38 AM

    Thank you for always covering the Middletown Lions Club efforts at recapturing the historic north end of our waterfront park, including Lions Landing. Since we dropped the ball and did not get a press release out, I will take responsibility for your coverage not including that this year’s spring clean up was a joint effort between the Lions Club and the Jonah Center. The Lions certainly can put on a great BBQ. Reaching out to the community, we had volunteers from not only the Lions Club and Jonah Center but First Church, regular citizens and representation from Wesleyan’s Community Service Week. However, the largest contribution to our effort was made by the Judicial Branch Community Service crews. These volunteers provide support not only to our projects, but countless events around Middletown and the State. A special thank you to Paulette Griffin, Statewide coordinator, and Ken Ahnel, Connection Incorporated’s Middletown crew supervisor.

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  2. AnonymousApril 25, 2010 at 4:38 PM

    Someone should add up all the great work that Ken Ahnel has contributed to in Middletown. Maybe a "That's Middletown" story?

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  3. Tree FanaticApril 25, 2010 at 7:38 PM

    I agree -- and also suggest spelling his name correctly: it's Ahnell. Ken has planted so many trees for the Urban Forestry Commission and Long Hill Estate that we dedicated a tree to him last year. This year, he and his crew put up the fence that will keep deer out of the Middletown street tree nursery. This week, he plans to auger the holes for our 182 new chestnut trees. Maybe he should have a street named for him!
    Jane Harris, Urban Forestry Commission

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  4. UnknownApril 26, 2010 at 2:38 PM

    Excellent work by the volunteers. Nice to see people trying to get Middletown reconnected with The River.
    I was down there last fall and saw just how much better the park looks.
    Nice job.

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