Monday, April 23, 2001

By Keith Boydston, Naples bureau

Keith Boydston / Stars and Stripes Emily Ross, 12, a sixth-grader at the Gaeta, Italy, American Elementary School, does her part on Sunday to help clean up local beaches as part of a combined American and Italian Earth Day project.

GAETA, ITALY — U.S. and Italian residents in this resort city joined together Sunday to recognize the 31st anniversary of Earth Day by walking miles of beaches and filling hundreds of bags with trash and debris.

"This community is so reliant on the water and the beaches for their livelihood," said Donna Kline, the organizer of the event. "We just thought it would be a great way to do something for the local community and to bring us all together for a common cause."

Gaeta is home to the U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet headquarters command.

The city boasts a population of about 20,000 for most of the year, but in July and August, the prime Italian vacation months, the city’s population expands to more than 55,000.

Scores of volunteers — U.S. military, Department of Defense civilians, family members and local Italian residents — scoured five local beach areas, picking up everything from glass and plastic to cigarette butts and hypodermic syringes.

"This shows you why we’re out here doing this," said John Cunico, holding up a syringe and needle he discovered while cleaning up. "I’m glad we’re out here doing this. This [Earth Day] is a call to consciousness — it's a call for people to keep the environment clean."

Planning for the Gaeta event began last September.

The local U.S. school and Italian elementary schools were contacted for support, Kline said, and a poster contest attracted more than 600 U.S. and Italian grade-school entries.

The winning poster was submitted by a fourth-grade Italian elementary school student.

"Earth Day should teach everybody how the world should be," said 9-year-old Roberta Acomfora, the poster contest winner. "I think it [Earth Day] is very important and we should all learn to take care of our world."

Participants on Sunday were supportive of the effort — and the cultural exchange seemed important.

"It’s very important to clean the world and to keep our beaches here clean," said Anna Simeone, a lifelong resident of Gaeta. "But the best thing is to start with the kids. It’s important to share the Italian and American culture together in a project like this."

And the kids turned out to pitch in.

"It’s important so that we can have a cleaner beach in the summer," said Emily Ross, 12, a sixth-grader at Gaeta elementary school. "This is a day that we set aside to clean and make sure that we take care of the Earth."

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