{"id":3009,"date":"2011-10-22T17:46:24","date_gmt":"2011-10-23T00:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=3009"},"modified":"2011-10-25T14:22:02","modified_gmt":"2011-10-25T21:22:02","slug":"cleaning-up-the-desert-makes-a-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2011\/10\/22\/cleaning-up-the-desert-makes-a-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleaning up the desert makes a difference"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The Hernandez family made a difference Saturday by taking part in a desert cleanup effort.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
California State Assemblyman Steve Knight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALMDALE \u2013 About 50 volunteers braved the hot sun Saturday to remove everything from carpets, mattresses and tires to books, dolls, and shoes that were scattered across the desert.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to clean up the illegal dumping because there\u2019s a lot of it,\u201d said Richard Kite, Planning Manager for the City of Palmdale.<\/p>\n

The community cleanup day was hosted by the city\u2019s Code Enforcement Department as part of National Make a Difference Day. The group, armed with plastic bags, gloves, shovels, and a front loader tractor, took to the desert near 70th<\/sup> Street East and Avenue S, in the vicinity of William J. (Pete) Knight High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the areas where we have a huge amount of illegal dumping,\u201d said Trish Jones of the City of Palmdale. \u201cHopefully we can make a dent in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Planning<\/a>
Planning Manager Richard Kite.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jones said several students took part in the cleanup effort to fulfill community service hours for school and scholarship programs. Daniel Arziga was cleaning up to fulfill his service hours for JROTC at William J. (Pete) Knight High School, but he was also there for another reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m on the cross country team and we run through here and there\u2019s a lot of things that get in our way,\u201d Arziga said. \u00a0\u201cSomeone\u2019s got to clean it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cleanup effort was a family affair for the Hernandez\u2019 \u2013 Gilbert, wife Jenny and son Eric.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A tractor load of trash.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to support my son because he is in JROTC and it\u2019s part of his community service program,\u201d said Gilbert Hernandez. \u201cIt\u2019s good for the environment and it\u2019s also good just to be out here with my family and doing something with my son.\u201d<\/p>\n

In just two hours, the Hernandez family had picked up 12 bags of trash between them.<\/p>\n

California Assemblyman Steve Knight also did his part to help in the cleanup effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a neat thing to do for the Antelope Valley,\u201d said Knight. \u201cWhen we\u2019re done it looks very nice, and the desert should look nice.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE \u2013 About 50 volunteers braved the hot sun Saturday to remove everything from carpets, mattresses and tires to books, dolls, and shoes that were scattered across the desert. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to clean up the illegal dumping because there\u2019s a lot of it,\u201d said Richard Kite, Planning Manager for the City of Palmdale. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3009"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}