You know you're dealing with a hard-core activist when her idea of "heartwarming" involves disappearing garbage.

Cindy Beckett, who crusades to save and repair wetlands, spent Saturday, July 7, on Portland Avenue picking up beer cans, food wrappers and all manner of other roadside trash with Midland Resident's Assn. volunteers.

"As usual, the area nearest 72nd Street was the worst," she said. "When we were done, we drove our truck and trailer along Portland Ave. to pick up all the bags and piled them in one location at 85th and Portland to make it easier for the county pick up the following Monday. It was a pretty good pile."

No kidding.

And all those bags beg the question: What kind of person tosses junk out of their car, assuming that some other person won't mind picking it up?

"On Sunday afternoon, I noticed that the pile was smaller," Cindy continued. "Then Stacy (Emerson) drove by even later and noticed it was even smaller. That evening I drove by again and it was smaller still."

The two were puzzled. It was clearly garbage in those bags. Who'd want them?

"Then we realized - the locals, bless their hearts, must have thought that someone had come into our beloved Midland and dumped their garbage on us, so they were taking the bags away a few to a time to put in their own garbage cans," Beckett said. "By the time the crew got there Monday, over half of the pile was gone. Now that's what I call community spirit!"