Can't keep a good sign down
Vandalized placards return as Wading River Civic sets community cleanup
By AMBROSE CLANCY

WADING RIVER--You'll soon be officially welcomed to the hamlet again, the ducks will again have an official right of way and everything will be tidier.

One night in June, near the Duck Pond on North Country Road, the "Welcome to Wading River" sign was severely vandalized and the "Duck Crossing" sign was stolen. The welcome sign will cost about $800 to replace, according to Sid Bail, president of the Wading River Civic Association.

"The duck crossing sign cost about $1.98," Mr. Bail noted with a laugh.

The signs, funded by revenue from April's Duck Pond Day celebration, will be back up within a week if all goes well, Mr. Bail said Monday. "We're working with the sign maker's schedule now," he said.

The signs' return will coincide with the Civic Association's latest community cleanup effort. The association is calling for volunteers to assemble at the Duck Pond at 10 a.m. Saturday, according to association vice president Nicole Fanelli-Burke, who noted the last community cleanup, in preparation for Duck Pond Day, drew a large turnout and "was a great success."

The plan is to fan out around the Duck Pond and clean up Sound Road from the General Store to the town beach, an area the association has committed to keeping clean under an initiative of freshman Riverhead Town Councilman George Bartunek.

More than 15 years ago, an all-volunteer litter-busting program in Riverhead Town was started, but over the years it fell by the wayside. Mr. Bartunek has been working to reinvigorate the program, and the Wading River Civic Association has volunteered to do its part.

Mr. Bartunek has been collating old lists of volunteers and encouraging people to sign on. It's been slow, he said, because of the pressure of his other duties. "We need to get somebody who has the time and the effort to come in and take the lead on this thing," he said.

Saturday's effort will also include a North Country Road trash hunt, Ms. Fanelli-Burke said. This area, especially near the Keyspan property's entrance, has become a real problem for the community, Mr. Bail added.

"It's become a dumping ground for objects as large as refrigerators," he said, noting that the area has become a favorite of illegal dumpers. "It used to be Whiskey Road."

In her five years living in the hamlet, Ms. Fanelli-Burke said she has seen the litter problem grow worse. "It's because of an increase in population [and] all the new stores on [Route] 25A," she said. "We see a lot of McDonald's bags."

Civic Association representatives have met with personnel at the King Kullen supermarket in the Wading River Commons shopping center to discuss ways of reducing the number of plastic shopping bags in the area. "King Kullen has been cooperative so far," Ms. Fanelli-Burke said, adding the supermarket was looking to the Civic Association for ideas on how to recycle.

Saturday's cleanup will require only an hour of a volunteer's time, Mr. Bail said. Participants should bring their own gloves and the association will provide trash bags. For more information on the effort, contact Mr. Bail at (631) 929-8879. For information on Councilman Bartunek's volunteer program, contact him at (631) 727-3200, Ext. 224.

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