December 14, 2001  

Thieves Strike Scenic Drive

 Saturday, December 8 was a good day for the environment as 40 Friends of the Scenic Drive volunteers picked up litter along the northern reaches of Scottsdale Road .  However, in two separate incidents thieves made it a bad day for residents and Friends of the Scenic Drive .  

Early in the morning, Howard Myers, Friends' treasurer, was manning the volunteer sign-in location at the monument sign  when he noticed that someone had dug up and stolen a pin cushion cactus that served as an plant exhibit.  Myers said, “From time-to-time vandals take the plant identification signs located along Scottsdale Road but this is the first instance of someone ignoring the sign and stealing the plant.”  Fortunately, Howard found another pin cushion in the same area and moved the sign, shifting the location of the exhibit.

Later in the day, Friends was hit with a second theft. Les Conklin, president of Friends, left supplies and tools used in the cleanup near his home on his way to Rawhide to return coffee urns and tables that Rawhide had lent to Friends for the cleanup. When Les returned from Rawhide, the supplies were gone.  Stolen were 40 orange safety vests, two cases of water, and two boxes of trash bags, 12 litter pickup sticks, a saw, tree trimmer, a folding chair and a clipboard with a sign-in sheet.  

Les said, “Even though these are minor thefts, it’s frustrating.  The litter is bad enough without having people steal the plants and our supplies.  We hated losing the sign-in sheet because it had the names of several people who had volunteered for the first time.  Volunteers are harder to come by than bottles of water and safety vests.”    

Friends of the Scenic Drive conducts its two-hour cleanups on Saturday mornings every 6 weeks. Volunteers - families, students, retirees and working folks - are assigned sections of the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive ( Scottsdale Road from Happy Valley Road to Carefree Highway ).  If there are enough volunteers, Friends also does sections of Carefree Highway , Dynamite, Lone Mountain and Jomax Roads.   

Friends, Rawhide and the City of Scottsdale provide free trash bags, pickup sticks, and safety vests.  Complimentary coffee, water and donuts are provided at the two sign-in locations manned by Friends’ volunteers.  Typically, volunteers work for two hours, until 10 am .  The result is litter-free roadside for residents and visitors to enjoy.     

Friends next cleanup project will be on Saturday, February 9, 2002 at 8 am . The public is invited to pitch in and pick up.  For directions to sign-in locations and information about the litter pickup effort, email friends@scenicdrive.org.