Please keep clean

[Andyli 78]

Cross Country was using Sioux on Fri. I went and played on Sat and between hole 14 and 15 looked like a dumpster. Water bottles and trash every where. If anyone know whose in charge of cross country tell them keep it clean or find another place to run. The grass looks great and then you walk through trash.

[pjohnmeyer]

I would start with MSHSAA. Governing body for high school athletics in MO. If nothing else they should at least know who was running the event.

Hopefully you picked up as much as you could before moving on.

[Stubborn Puppet]

I noticed the same thing and intended on calling the parks dept this afternoon. It wasn't just between 14 and 15, the whole course was littered with their water bottles and baby Gatorade bottles and snack bar wrappers. It was definitely the jerks from the race.

I meant to look at the sign which was posted on the kiosk at hole one, as it was still up when I played on Saturday afternoon. I forgot after becoming more interested in a guy that was all over the back 9 with a maul, hacking through the grasslands and the woods... looking for discs. He told me, "Oh, I'm just out looking for a whole bunch of discs I lost out here over the course of the week... I lost about 10 of them and I decided I should come back up and look today." His whole story sounded kinda fishy and left my group with the distinct feeling that he was just cashing in on others misfortune.

Anyhow, I picked up as much as I could fit into two grocery bags... but that didn't begin to put a dent in it. I'll call the parks people and report it. I encourage as many disc golfers as saw this to do the same. If we don't report it, everyone is going assume that it's the golfers leaving the mess.

EDIT: I just contacted the parks dept AND sent an email to all of the event organizers and the superintents at Hazelwood Schools. They are the ones who hosted the race - I found the info here: http://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/Results/Meet.aspx?Meet=58400

[jeffthrow6892]

Okay........I haven't made it out to Sioux in a while, but this seriously pisses me off!! No excuse to leave behind a mess of litter like that! We ALWAYS pick up trash out there every time we play, but it sounds like this would have been quite an undertaking..........

[Stubborn Puppet]

I got an email back from Hazelwood School District saying, "Thanks for the information, sorry for the inconvenience. We're looking into this and will get back with you soon."

[Richard~Cheese]

I think what Hazlewood Schools are basically saying is "screw you" puppet. Back in the day I used to play at Manchester and the Parkway South Cross Country Teams did the same thing. After bugging and even going to the school personally to talk to the coach. To no prevail, after three seasons I finally gave up. Granted this is when the park first went in. I understand that they don't litter much anymore but it took the city and surrounding neighbors to fix the problem with the school district not the school. If they only use it for a tourny they most likley won't pick up trash. If they practice out there on a regular basis we might have a chance to get them to pick up after themselves. Maybe course captain should try and talk to the coaches at one of their practices. Otherwise WE are going to be stuck with the reputation of litter bugs{even tho it's not us} and a pile of trash to pick up.

[Stubborn Puppet]

As it turns out, the Superintendant seems to have made several calls (possibly chewing people out - or possibly saying, "make this guy feel better") and this eventually landed in the lap of the Principal at Hazelwood HS. She asked me to speak on the phone and we did this morning. She says she has sent the event organizers and the School custodial staff up to the park this morning with instructions to see what trash is left and to clean it up... then report back to her.

She says she used to go to each of these meets and has never seen this happen before, that they always picked up all the trash and even got a letter from the parks dept. one year applauding them for keeping the park so clean. (I've heard from Francis that this is far from the case... but I'll leave the possibility that one time a cross country meet did clean up.)

I was told that she is going to "roll some heads" and that there will be a plan in place at their next event to make sure that they leave the park as clean as it was when they arrived. She asked me to please report immediately if I see this again in the future after any Hazelwood School event at a park and said she appreciates my reporting it because, "If you don't know about a problem you can't do anything to solve it."

We'll keep our fingers crossed.

[Richard~Cheese]

Im very surprised at the fast response. All we can do is wait and see. Pat yourself on the back puppet, good job.