Editor: When I thought about starting this clean up I was thinking about the Alamo community. 169 is the only paved road into Alamo, and over this past year due to COVID-19, I have seen all too many friends, colleagues, students and their family members in processions driving this road to bury family. It’s been heartbreaking to say the very least.
So when Earth Day came around this year, and COVID-19 restrictions were loosening a bit, I thought what better way to honor the community during Earth Day as a symbol of beautification, renewal, and healing — than to clean up this highway that is used so much and holds so much more meaning to me than ‘just a road’ now.
Initially, I wanted to include the highway all the way to MM 29; however, with the Navajo community, like the rest of us, not completely in the clear — they are in orange at the time of this email — nonAlamo residents are not allowed to visit in large numbers, and therefore cannot clean up along that stretch of road.
I hope this will bring awareness back to our roads and highways, recycling, respect, and keeping our county beautiful.
If volunteers want to sort #1 plastic, I believe the NMT Recycling Committee will be out on this Saturday. Recyclables will be bagged in dark blue bags; I will collect glass and aluminum to recycle as well in these dark blue bags. NMDOT will be out collecting bags full of other litter.
I’d like to see this an annual event for other highways in the county. Please Adopt a New Mexico Hwy if you can.
Thank you to those who have sponsored so far and to volunteers.
Laurie Ware, Magdalena, Alamo
