Man’s effort to keep Grand Falls clean earns awards

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January 22, 2010

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Fri Jan 22, 2010, 11:13 AM CST

By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

The Crewsons and Frasers now have a photograph of Grand Falls to add to their collection of vacation images.

“Coming here was absolutely worth it,” said Linda Fraser. “It’s a beautiful place.”

The couples are traveling from Manitoba, Canada, to Jacksonville, Fla., where they will board a cruise ship for five days. They stopped at Precious Moments in Carthage where they saw a travel brochure about the falls.

“We decided to drive over here and take a look at it,” said Jim Crewson.”It just goes to show you that travel brochures really do work.”

“For Canadians anyway,” said his wife, Colleen, with a hint of sarcasm that prompted an outburst of laughter.

“Yeah, we did see some of our geese down here, too,” she said, which prompted even more laughter.

The appearance of tourists and photographers at Grand Falls is nothing new for Ron Phelps, who lives near what is arguably the most photographed natural feature in Southwest Missouri.

“It happens every day,” he said. “In the summertime, we have professional photographers from all over come here to take photos. They come in the morning and the evening when the light is best.”

It’s apparently quite a sight to observe when girls in prom dresses and wedding gowns walk across the chert rock that forms the falls to have their photos taken.

The falls look as good as they do because of the work the Phelps family has done at the site for 20 years in cooperation with recent efforts by the city of Joplin.

In December, Phelps was recognized for his community service with a resolution from the Missouri House of Representatives that was crafted by state Rep. Marilyn Ruestman. He also has received the Lieutenant Governor’s Senior Service Award and a proclamation from the city of Joplin thanking him for his hard work and service to the Joplin landmark.

The falls would be a dumpsite if it were not for the Phelps family. As many as 40 barrels of trash are picked up by the city in June and July from the site.

“My family is a stream team,” he said. “ What we do is what stream teams do. We take care of our stretch of the river.”

The Phelps stream team was the 48th team to be formed in the state of Missouri. There are now more than 4,000 teams. For information on the team, visit grandfallsstreamteam48.net.

The stream team has been working to make the site an unpopular place for troublemakers and illegal dumpers.

The problems begin in the spring before the public pools open. The falls attract young people who want to cool off and party. Trash, including glass bottles, are left behind.

“It takes a long time to pick up a broken beer bottle,” said Phelps. “We are trying to make the falls a more family-friendly place to visit. You can’t do that when there’s broken glass all over the ground.

“It’s the best it has been in a long time,” he said. “That was not the case when we started 20 years ago, but we still have got a long way to go.”

Phelps said the biggest obstacle faced by the stream team is the mindset involving residents of three states who think it’s all right to trash a natural wonder.

That mindset reared its ugly head after a Globe editorial praised a city plan to add an observation deck and parking lot for visitors to the site. The editorial said the falls deserved to be treated better than a dumpsite.

Within a couple of days of the editorial, someone dumped a sofa and other items at the falls.

Phelps said the editorial is evidence of “the power of suggestion. When you call it a dumpsite, that’s the way people will treat it.”

The effort to change that mindset took a major step forward last year when Joplin Police Chief Lane Roberts increased the presence of police in patrol cars at the falls.

“They were out here every day all summer,” said Phelps. “They made a big difference. They kept the troublemakers on the run.

“When people visit now, they see it as safe and clean. They’re coming back to visit because of that.”

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Man’s effort to keep Grand Falls clean earns awards

Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr wants the city to distribute weather radios to all Joplin homes that don’t have one. That’s 11,000 radios. Do you think that’s a good use of $300,440?

Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr wants the city to distribute weather radios to all Joplin homes that don’t have one. That’s 11,000 radios. Do you think that’s a good use of $300,440?

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