Port Huron man is walking to clean up area rivers
Heracles, Odysseus, Sisyphus — those old Greek guys could learn something from Joshua Radhs.
The Port Huron resident has set himself a task as heroic as the 12 labors of Heracles; he's embarking in September on an odyssey that's part of the task; and he has a chore ahead of him almost as daunting as Sisyphus and that rock.
Radhs is the founder of Michigan Clean Up Our River Banks. It's about as grassroots as you can get, driven mainly by all the determination Radhs can muster from his wiry body.
He wants more people to know about what he's doing, so he's taking his campaign out of the wooded river bottoms where he spends most of his free time to the urban streets and sidewalks of St. Clair County.
"I'm walking against litter Sept. 1 and it ends on Sept. 30," he said.
He said he's going to trek along the banks of the St. Clair River, the Black, Pine and Belle rivers and Mill Creek, picking up trash such as old tires, bottles, cans and assorted plastic. He's taking a month off from work to accomplish his journey.
"I'm going to start with St. Clair River because I live on St. Clair River," he said. "So when I walk out my front door, I'm going to walk to St. Clair."
He said he won't trespass, but in areas where he can get to the riverbank, he'll be picking up junk.
He also plans to walk from the mouth of the Black River to Lions Park in Port Huron Township, again picking up trash along the way. From that area, he'll be paddling a canoe or kayak to Beards Hill and the Port Huron State Game Area.
That's where a monumental task awaits with the mythic name of Glass Hill. The slopes of the former Hewitt Pit dump along the Black River off Hewitt Road in Grant Township is covered with broken glass — so much so that it's impossible to walk there without shards clinking and sliding against each other.
Old Mason jars, glass bottles, ancient ceramic jugs and crocks lurk beneath young trees and weeds.
"I've found bottles from 1922 out here," he said.
He's also found automobiles upside down in the Black River at the bottom of the steep gorge. It looks as if someone brought the cars to the brink, then pushed them over the edge.
"There's two in the river I found," Radhs said. "There's some sort of big machine, I'm not sure what it is, but there are still liquids inside of it."
Radhs said he also will be walking along Mill Creek and the Belle and Pine rivers.
"I want to get at least one tire from each river," he said.
Port Huron man launches effort to clean up rivers
Radhs said he's tired of looking at trash, and he hopes people will help him do something about it.
"I'm tired of seeing the waters looking like this," he said. "I care enough to get it out.
"I've got the will. There has to be a way to do it."
Contact Bob Gross at (810) 989-6263 or rgross@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobertGross477.
More information
Follow MI-CUORB on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/1179322728785829/
Joshua Radhs needs donations to continue his campaign against trash. Contact him on the MI-CUORB Facebook site.