I just spent my morning with a wonderful group of students from Gardiner Area High School, and I encourage everyone to spend time with young people like these.

They spent their morning cutting sumac and alders, pulling weeds, pulling grass and disposing of twigs and clippings, all to make the Gardiner end of the Kennebec River Rail Trail a little more inviting for bikers and walkers.

While one group was cleaning up the trail itself, another group was busy painting over graffiti under the bridge through which you pass as you approach the Hannaford parking lot at the trail head.

It would have been a perfect day except for the fact that as the students cut grass, pulled weeds and trimmed unwanted brush, they also found broken bottles, trash and even pet waste in little bags carelessly tossed to the side of the trail.

I ask every adult who had thrown trash from their car or bagged their pets’ waste and tossed it into the grass next to the trail to consider following the example of these Gardiner Area High School students. They spent their morning pulling weeds, trimming brush, and in some cases, cleaning up the mess others carelessly left behind.

Gary Crocker

West Gardiner