Lions remove a jungle of debris

If Market Street has looked a little nicer in 2011, it may be due to the efforts of a local service club. From May through October, six times each year, the Boardman Lions Club cleans the Market Street corridor between Western Reserve Road and U.S. 224.

The project is coordinated through Lion Terry Shears and the Ohio Department of Transportation. At each sweep, six to eight Lions Club volunteers remove trash and debris from the berms and area adjacent to the highway. 

"But we leave the dead animals alone," Shears said.

Each cleaning takes the volunteers about two hours on a Saturday morning. Among the odd objects the club has found are many pairs of gloves, a television, necklaces, CDs and expired credit cards, a bra, a toupee and a wig.

The club members are amused at the looks they get from passers-by. 

"If you see us in our bright orange or yellow vests on Saturday morning, we're not convicts. We're the Boardman Lions," Shears said.