by: A. Tyler Settle

Indian legend refers to the Chadakoin River as "the place where one is lost" and "the place of early death."

These could be references to battles which resulted in the deaths of many Indians who fought for hunting rights along the river banks.

The river is full of history, say historians, long-time Jamestown residents and nature lovers alike, but it is also full of garbage and other pollution.

In an attempt to clean up the river and its banks, the musical group 10,000 Maniacs, which has three Jamestown area natives as members, is organizing a cleanup of the river. Volunteers are to gather Saturday, May 18, beginning at 8 a.m., at the Peace Pole in front of the former location of Long John John Silver's on South Main Street.

A town meeting will be held at the Reg Lenna Civic Center at 7 p.m. Friday. At this meeting, details of the river clean up will be discussed, groups will be assigned to various sections of the river and questions about the effort will be answered.

The idea is to reacquaint local residents with the river and to let them contribute to its improvement, Steven Gustafson of the 10,000 Maniacs told The Post-Journal.

The cleanup will coincide with a cleanup by the Chautauqua Greens of the area along Jones & Gifford Avenue. This effort, intended as a Mother's Day gift to Mother Earth, is being done in conjunction with a downtown streets cleanup being done in preparation for LucyFest.

Gustafson said he and some fellow band members and friends walked from McCrea Point Park near the source of the Chadakoin to the east-end city limits near Second Street and were shocked at the amount of pollution left to rot in and around the water.

By his count, Gustafson said, there were 12 shopping carts in the river as well as tires, rusty barrels and household garbage such as diapers, food stuff and fast-food containers. Gustafson said the band's concern spurred them to ask the city if they could organize the river cleanup in conjunction with the street-cleaning effort the city was planning.

By Gustafson's estimation, about 200 people will be needed to work the portion of the river's edge within the city limits.

Volunteers will be organized into groups and group leaders will supervise them in assigned areas. Those who show up will simply pick up trash along the banks, Gustafson said. He said no one will venture into the water at any point. Workers with a local landscaping company will retrieve larger items and other trash from the water. Safety will be of utmost concern, Gustafson said.

Participants will be asked to record what they see as they work and note any possible violations of environmental law. All of the documentation will be turned over to the River Front Task Force for evaluation and possible action.

"We really want people to visualize improvements to the river banks while they're out there," Gustafson said.

This will help with the followup to the cleanup, he said, which he and his band hope will come in the form of people continuing to look after the river's cleanliness. An "Adopt a River" program could perhaps be started, with different groups or businesses taking responsibility for maintaining a small section of the river, Gustafson said.

Participants in all three cleaning efforts May 18 are invited to see the fruits of their efforts in Tracy Plaza in front of City Hall, where all the garbage will be displayed before it is taken to its final resting place.

"We're hoping this will make people proud. ... It gives people something they can do about something that's wrong and all they have to do is bend over for a couple hours," Gustafson said. "Sometimes it sounds corny (to say) take pride in your community but I think you really have to. We (10,000 Maniacs) had to leave this town to become successful but, I'll tell you, we love coming back and we're proud of Jamestown."

Asked if he thinks the fact that his band is organizing the effort will mean a bigger turnout for the cleanup, Gustafson said, "Well, if we had an ad that said the Maniacs are going to be at the Reg Lenna, we'd probably get 1,000 people there. Then, we could say, 'Oh, there's no concert but we need your help.' Sure, it helps to be in a high profile profession (when looking for help for such projects)."