Hundreds of newspapers found littered along roadside in Brackenridge

Residents, nursing home employees and borough workers teamed up Monday morning to pick up hundreds of newspapers strewn along Broadview Boulevard and Freeport Road in Brackenridge.

“There were hundreds of them,” said Christa Beck, who spent more than 90 minutes collecting papers dated June 18 from the side of the road.

She estimated they were strewn for about six blocks. The newspapers all appeared to be copies of Sunday’s edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Beck guessed the stacks fell from a delivery truck, but calls to the Post-Gazette were not immediately returned.

Beck’s husband, Phil, pastor of First United Presbyterian Church in Tarentum, was out for a morning walk when he called to tell her about the stretch of litter he stumbled upon.

He started picking up papers along Broadview Boulevard near St. Barnabas Church and had gotten about two blocks’ worth collected, up past Platinum Ridge Center for Rehabilitation & Healing, when Christa arrived with a supply of trash bags.

They started picking up the newspapers and people noticed — and joined in.

Workers from the nursing home pitched in, along with neighbors along the route.

“When we got back to the St. Barnabas lawn, we realized how many more continued all down the grassy side of the road and into the road,” Christa Beck said. “The newspapers were in huge quantity the whole way to Prospect Cemetery.”

The chore was so daunting Beck called Brackenridge officials to report it, and the borough’s public works crew showed up to help.

A borough official who answered the phone Monday confirmed that the crew pitched in. About 20 bags were collected.

“While we were disappointed with the amount of trash all over the road in our community, we were so grateful for locals that started helping clean up,” Beck said.

“Several people stopped in the middle of Freeport Road and started picking up the paper from the road while we continued in the grass.”