Clean up crew gets a surprise

GAINESVILLE - Gainesville mayor George Wangemann's monthly neighborhood clean-up found something besides litter Saturday morning on Cooley Drive.

The mayor's clean up crew found a quantity of marijuana mixed in with the trash. After deputies confirmed that it was indeed marijuana it was destroyed.

"It was a baggy full of it and he verified that in fact it was marijuana," the Mayor said.

"And we found a few syringes in the woods which we trashed."

Keep Hall Beautiful organizer Stephanie Johnson said a federally funded revitalization would hopefully bring restoration that will rid the neighborhood of trash, sub-standard housing and drug activity.

"You have elements who come into the community who rent from the people that own this property and they make the area bad." Johnson said.

Johnson, who grew up in the neighborhood, added the clean-up should help bring community pride back to the area long known for its illegal drug activity.

Deputies destroyed the marijuana after clean-up volunteers turned it over to them.