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There was a job to do, and more than 21 Katahdin Time Dollar members showed up Saturday afternoon to do their part in cleaning up Millinocket Stream, a large task that the exchange has taken on as a project for the past two years.
Known as a dumping ground for paper mill waste, sewage, and household trash, the stream that flows through the town of Millinocket has never been a place where parents wanted their children to play.
In May of 2003, a concerned citizen brought the condition of Millinocket Stream to the attention of the town council.
"It's a dump," said John DiCentes, a lifelong resident of Millinocket, who said that he was ashamed to have visitors go down by the stream. The town manager said that the town didn't have the money to do the kind of job that needed to be done in order to improve the condition of the stream.
Intrigued, this reporter spent a couple of days walking the length of the stream, on both sides, from a point east of the bridge connecting Little Italy with the mill to the part of the stream that leads to the high school, taking more than 200 photographs, which were documented in A Walking Tour of Millinocket Stream.
After writing a few articles on the subject, I received feedback from some people who were willing to assist in doing something about it, but it wasn't until the Katahdin Time Dollar Exchange was established that tangible steps were actually taken to improve the situation.
In late October of 2003, between 40 and 50 Time Dollar Exchange members showed up at Kermit Crandall Park, ready to begin the process of cleaning up the stream. And they did; four dump trucks full of debris were hauled from the stream that fall.
This Saturday, June 26, 2004, was the 2nd Annual Stream Clean Up. The water levels were lower than they were the last time, allowing the volunteers to find and to gain access to some of what was not visible last fall.
That they did, hauling up several tires, a couple of bicycles, numerous pieces of rusted pipe, broken glass galore, and shoes; for some reason, there were dozens of shoes, particularly soles of shoes, all along the banks of the stream.
This time the group, assisted by town public works employees, concentrated on both sides of the portion of the stream between the Cherry Street bridge and west, including all of Kermit Crandall Park, removing two dump trucks full of debris from the stream to the transfer station.
Is it clean? No, but it's cleaner than it was this morning.
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