The attendance was good, and we consolidated the Wayne County provided orange trash bags, and ended up only using six bags! The road looked like it had been picked up a few weeks before which allows us to complete the 2-1/2 mile stretch in a little over an hour. As you view the picture of our troops, you will see eleven of us bad boys assembled under the Wayne County Adopt-A-Road sign on the eastbound side of Joy, just east of Canton Center Road. After a rousing speech, Sergeant Whipple had the troops all pumped up to police Joy Road. You can see the look on our faces, that we meant business. Joy Road didnÕt stand a chance against these troops! They were frothing at the mouth to get at that road.

Those in attendance from left to right in the picture were: Wade "Rottweiler" Rothoff, Sergeant Whip, Forrest "all world" Manley, Marcel "Kawasaki bike man" Loosbrock, Bob "Sky Pilot" Humphrey, Ron "Emporer" King, Mike "donÕt bicker" Dicker, Bill "Alfalfa" Hayes, Jim "Diggin' Retirement" Hodgson, Don "Reunion Man" Dignan, and taking the picture, Karen "Foxy Grandma" Whipple. A hearty breakfast awaited us at the Canton Coney Island. Anyone who has participated in the road crew will agree that there are way too many cigarette butts on the road side. For you that smoke, we would all encourage you to not throw your cigarettes out on the roadside, let alone dumping your ashtray as well. Thank you!!

Rich Whipple (Sgt.)
HHC/2/503d Infantry
173d Airborne Brigade
May 1968 Š May 1969

Adopt-A-Road Pick-up on May 2: We had a beautiful morning as eighteen of us gathered for the first Road Pick-up for 2009. The eighteen tied the all time attendance record set back in September of 2005. It sure makes things easy, and the job is done in no time when we have those kind of numbers. Those in attendance were (photo): Judy & Jerry "Commander in Chief" Thomason, Aggie & Ron "Looks like we got ourselves a convoy" Little, Jan & Bob "Sky Pilot" Humphrey, our newly elected secretary Ron King, Dale Luebke, fresh back from his trip to Minnesota, Bill "Point of Order" Hayes, Dennis "Sportsman Raffle" Bielski, Forrest "All World" Manley, Bob "Card Man" Hallmark, Gary "Ouch" Boucher, our lovely associates Susie Wagner and Norma Demerly, Mark "Arizona" Grzesiek (Longest Distance Award), Karen "Foxie Grandma" Whipple (she took the picture), and myself. Many thanks to the road crew team that certainly made it happen, and did so very quickly! After the pick-up, a great time was had at the Canton Coney Island (our local Chow Hall), where much coffee, calories, and camaraderie was absorbed and inhaled! This was approximately our 33rd pick-up, which began in April of 1997. The next scheduled Joy Road pick-up is Saturday, July 25.

Rich Whipple
HHC/2/503d Infantry
173d. Airborne Brigade
1968-69