Since the story we published Tuesday night, we see the angle taken on a change.org page addressing conditions at the pond has been altered.
The night we looked at it, its message said, “Rochelle Pond is a beautiful small body of water that is home to numerous wildlife, and is enjoyed by many fishermen, visitors and homeowners. This petition serves as a way to encourage the City of Roanoke Rapids to create new regulations or strategies to provide a clean, safe environment for our community to enjoy. The amount of litter, over growth, and sewage drains that empty rainwater and possible chemical runoff into the waters has endangered the safety of the wildlife that live in the pond, and creates a significant trash problem after rainstorms.”
This morning as we looked at it, the scope of the intro changed. “Rochelle Pond is a beautiful small body of water that is home to numerous wildlife, and is enjoyed by many fishermen, visitors and homeowners. This petition serves as a way to encourage the community to help provide a clean, safe environment for all of us to enjoy. As a stormwater retention basin for Roanoke Rapids, over 500 acres of litter, over growth, and litter drains into the waters (and) creates a significant trash problem after rainstorms. Through the efforts of the community we can all do a part to help Keep Rochelle Pond Clean!”
We give Scherer’s report credit for this change of heart and praise the administrator of the petition site for seeing fit to alter the message so it’s made abundantly clear the upkeep of Rochelle Pond is not only a matter the city should stay on top of, but visitors and residents living around it should invest in as well.
Yes, his report was terse, but it was also fair as he laid out what the city has done to address the problems at the pond which have gone beyond simply the problem of litter.
In times when people tend to think government should solve all their woes, sometimes a community needs to take pride and step up, offer help.
Rochelle Pond is included among our many stops on weekend photo trips, especially during the fall when colorful leaves loose from the trees holding them to create a beautiful canvas on the road beside it. We also have seen the plastic soda bottles floating in the pond and other debris which somehow doesn’t make its way into waste receptacles placed there.
In other parts of the city we have watched with befuddlement as residents callously rake their fall leaves and grass trimmings directly into stormwater grates. They are not intended to be used for that purpose and the city does a yeoman’s job with an intense leaf collection program extending from the fall to winter.
The upkeep of the pond is something residents not only living around it, but those visiting it should take stock in and with the many civic organizations and other special interest groups in the city, it shouldn’t be difficult to come up with a cleanup day. If not monthly, then at least yearly or on or near Earth Day.
There is a very utilitarian purpose behind the pond, its use severely industrial as it serves as a stormwater retention impoundment and not a private lake. That this impoundment has created a habitat for waterfowl should be seen as a plus which has added art to engineering.
We were glad to hear the city manager’s report Tuesday and glad to see its message prompted a change of heart.
Now, as we move forward, let’s all take stock in the upkeep of not only the pond, but the city as a whole, making it a place we can all be proud of — Editor
