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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Diane C. Birdwell @512-478-8813
Friday, May 25, 2001

KEEP TEXAS BEAUTIFUL ANNOUNCES ENVIRONMENTAL EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS
El Paso Wins Top Award!

(Austin, Texas) - Who Keeps Texas Beautiful? The citizens of El Paso do, that's who. El Paso is one of nine communities presented the Governor's Community Achievement Award by Keep Texas Beautiful, Inc. (KTB) and will share $1,000,000 in landscaping prizes from the Texas Department of Transportation for excellence in community environmental programming. The City of El Paso and Keep El Paso Beautiful will be recognized at the 34th Annual Keep Texas Beautiful Convention in Fort Worth, June 26 - June 29, 2001 for their efforts.

Keep El Paso Beautiful (KEPB), an affiliate of Keep Texas Beautiful, had an incredible year with much of the success coming from the outstanding volunteer spirit of the citizens of El Paso. The numbers look great - 207 cleanup events with more than 89,000 of hours volunteer time contributed to litter prevention, environmental education, and community beautification and improvement efforts this past year. Partnerships have been key to the success in El Paso as KEPB has joined with the Texas Workforce Commission, Texas Department of Transportation, and State Senator Eliot Shapleigh to create seven regions within the city allowing citizens to assist in designing, implementing, and maintaining the state-right-of ways to help keep El Paso beautiful.

Major litter prevention events during the year have included El Paso Pride Day, The Great American Cleanup El Paso/Juarez and two river cleanups including Dia del Rio and KEPB Earth Day River Cleanup. This year's Great American Cleanup El Paso/Juarez resulted in 142 tons of litter being removed from both cities. In an effort to involve and empower the citizens to take part in the cleanup efforts, KEPB developed and dispersed "Community Cleanup Kits." Each kit contains trash bags, gloves, and safety tips - the essential items for a safe and effective cleanup.
Not to go quietly into the sunset, KEPB places emphasis on its public awareness campaigns that includes literature in both English and Spanish. At least 12 billboards in El Paso promote such messages as "Don't Mess with Texas." A new campaign this year featured the "Give and Gain Clothing Drive" with a press conference that had El Paso dignitaries "giving the shirt off their back" and bringing attention to the need to reuse clothing. Nearly four tons of clothing were collected and donated to the El Paso Child Crisis Center.

KEPB also supports numerous graffiti eradication programs by providing anti-graffiti education to programs offered by the City of El Paso Street Department and El Paso County's Graffiti Wipeout program. These programs are armed with sandblasting and soda blasting equipment, and computerized paint matching to remove more nearly 26,000 "tags" citywide. A majority of the "tags" are removed within 24 hours.

This marks the 32nd Annual Governor's Community Achievement Awards, which are presented to communities in nine population categories that have the best grassroots volunteer environmental programs in the state. The communities exhibited excellence in community leadership, litter prevention, public awareness, education, solid waste management and recycling, illegal dumping enforcement and beautification. These prizes are designated for landscaping along state-maintained highways in their communities.

According to Debbie Moody, KTB board president, the quality of the entries from the communities was exceptional. "It's obvious the citizens of El Paso are committed to environmental stewardship and to making their city the most outstanding community in Texas. This year's awards have proven that one can make a difference," she said. "One scout troop, one civic organization, or one local business can make a recognizable difference in their community."

Keep Texas Beautiful, the nonprofit state affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, strives to empower Texans through education to take responsibility for enhancing their community's environment. KTB works with volunteers, elected officials, businesses and state and federal agencies to ensure that every Texan has the opportunity to take individual responsibility for making Texas the cleanest, most beautiful state in the nation. For more information on programs and events, call 1-800-CLEAN-TX or visit the website at www.ktb.org.

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