To the editor:

On Sept. 19, 20 volunteers helped make the Common Fence Point Community's participation in the annual International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) and data survey a success. Success, in this case, means that volunteers removed 450 pounds of debris from our beaches.

Thanks to the Lefort family for traveling to Common Fence Point from Barrington to help out! They picked up 149 pounds of debris, including a 50-pound piece of plywood, 93 food wrappers, 83 straws and 50 plastic beverage bottles. Four of the 31 cigarette lighters were picked up by the family between Easton’s and Taylor’s points.

Veteran cleanup volunteer Gail DeSisto grabbed Rose Escobar after Zumba class and then continued to clean and catalogue, from Taylor's Point down to Montaup, and counted a diaper, 43 food wrappers, a tire, 138 pieces of plastic, 20 plastic beverage cans, 24 bottle caps and more, totaling 35 pounds. Thank you, ladies!

Thanks to the returning team of Julie Rotar and Sue Farrier, who collected 15 pounds of trash on the northwest side of Anthony Road and reported that a rubber snake was the most unusual item found. Bottle caps and food wrappers and plastic pieces topped their data card numbers.

This year's heroes were Frank and Cindy Mullins, who packed and carried 14 bags of trash from the Sakonnet River Bridge beach, aka the dirtiest beach in Common Fence Point. Their neighbor Leanne's spirit, who had headed up that site cleanup for years, must have been spurring them on, because Frank kept at it, coming back several times for more bags, despite the taxing efforts of dragging the bags a long distance to the nearest right of way, and then up stairs to the road.

"There has to be a better way,” he huffed and puffed. Two hundred and six pounds of debris is a lot for any codger to drag a quarter mile along rocky terrain!

Yes, there are solutions. One is younger volunteers for next September's ICC. The organization and implementation of the 2016 ICC in Common Fence Poing would make an excellent senior project! Spread the word!

The second solution, which so far has fallen on deaf ears, is enforcement of the litter laws. Every summer for the past 20-plus years, families, mostly from different cultures, have routinely descended upon the beaches en masse from Massachusetts, and left their day's debris on the beach. They fish, they eat, they eliminate and neither RIDEM nor state or local law enforcement will help our community combat their abuse and destruction.

Frank Mullins picked up 35 diapers in that area that Saturday morning. Two days later, I  walked down there on an otherwise well-cleaned beach … until I got to "their" area and there it was: a ”fresh" diaper, barely wedged into the rocks. Why won’t the state put a sign there that reads, bilingually, the amount of fine for dumping diapers and other debris? Why isn’t the Department of Health concerned?

Why have we been told that the police and fire departments can’t cross the railroad tracks from the Hummocks to Common Fence Point to enforce laws meant to protect us? Why can’t the state conservation officer, who is in our neighborhood often, walk over the railroad tracks and tell these lawbreakers to pack it up or shove off? “No comprende,” we shake our heads and say, year after year.

Thanks to July Lewis of Save The Bay for organizing the ICC in Rhode Island. Thanks for the Portsmouth DPW for faithfully picking up the trash piles, and to the leaders of Girl Scout Troop 725, who come so well-prepared. Thanks to Common Fence Point Improvement Association webmaster Peter Howland for your ideas, and to Conley, Jackie, Paul, Scott and Tracy, my trusty table-bearers! Every little bit helps!

Mark your calendars for Sept 17, 2016!

Mil Kinsella

74 Narragansett Boulevard

Portsmouth