Thursday, October 25, 2001

University makes efforts to clean up trash in Worth Hills pond
By Sam Eaton
Staff Reporter

Junior pre-major Kevin Brandon looked out his dorm room window last spring and saw a bird at the Worth Hills pond surrounded by trash. The experience inspired Brandon, brotherhood chairman for Delta Tau Delta, to organize a pond clean-up.

What Brandon experienced has become an albatross for TCU. Despite efforts by the Physical Plant, Fort Worth storm drains and TCU fraternities/sororities pile up the trash.

While they may disagree on the source, Plysical Plant officials agree the pond needs to be kept clean.

Physical Plant Administrator Will Stallworth said pond maintenance is a continual process.

“We can’t keep up with all the trash the fraternities put in there,” Stallworth said. “The fraternities throw trash in there at the end of the year. You can find bed frames, grocery carts and furniture. We’ve taken some brand-new furniture out of there.”

Robert Sulak, assistant director for landscaping and grounds for the Physical Plant, said trash is a problem around the pond and much of it is from TCU.

“(The pond) is a part of the city drainage, so after it rains, a lot of trash comes down to the pond,” Sulak said. “The dormitories and the activities around the intramural fields also leave a lot of trash.”

Some fraternities said they do not throw trash in the pond. Phi Delta Theta President Jimmy Echols, whose fraternity house sits beside pond, said he has never seen large pieces of trash being dumped into the pond by students.

“I’ve seen some littering,” Echols said. “However, I’ve never seen anyone throw furniture or things of that nature into the pond.”

Regardless of the cause, along with 30 members of his fraternity, Brandon cleaned up the pond Sunday. He said the fraternity filled up five trash bags full of garbage on Sunday, and also threw away big pieces of trash.

“We got some big, heavy stuff hauled out of there,” Brandon said. “There was actually some junk out there like concrete blocks, boxes, and plastic that looked like it was from TCU.”

While Brandon was concerned about trash around the pond, some students are indifferent about the trash.

Not all students think the trash is s problem.

Sophomore business major and Sigma Alpha Epsilon member David Peterson, whose fraternity dorm room overlooks the pond, said he didn’t think trash around the lake was a problem.

“The lake is trashy, but not too bad,” Peterson said. “TCU could spend money on other things besides trying to clean it up.”

Jim Weller, Physical Plant director of major projects, said TCU needs to clean up its mess, even if some of the trash comes from off campus.

“That whole drain system is city drainage,” Weller said. “It’s on our property, and we’ve got some responsibility to keep it clean.”

Sam Eaton
s.m.eaton@student.tcu.edu