Trash Pickers
JFK was right. Life’s not fair.
It really rocked me when I heard that local environmentalist Jack Coughlin had been hit by a Jeep while he was out picking up litter. For years, Jack walked ten miles a day, filling up a five-gallon bucket with trash he finds on roads, sidewalks, shorelines and more. He started doing this when he was a teenager growing up in Springfield. That’s how his dad justified his allowance. The practice stuck. Even well into his seventies, he’d be out there with his Nifty Nabber no matter the weather.
I got a call from Jack when we were doing the Fishing Buddies campaign in Holyoke, trying to open closed reservoirs so inner-city kids could fish. Fishing is all about hope. You hope you catch a fish. And these kids needed all the hope they could get. They also needed to get out of the tenement blocks and into the outdoors.
For the Fishing Buddies, Peter Jourdain and I dressed up as the Blues Brothers of fishing and had the aliases Jack and Harry. Bobby Kennedy, Jr. was our lawyer and we had the support of the New York environmental group Riverkeeper.
Jack Coughlin called me and said with our attitude we were cool with kids and asked if we would team up and teach kids to keep the reservoirs and neighborhoods clean. Damn right we could. But Christ, we lost every fight with the Holyoke Water Works, the mayor, the city council. They were all offended we’d developed a cause that had some humor to it. Deadbeats. We had the support of the Massachusetts State Police motorcycle unit, the U.S. EPA administrator for New England, the Massachusetts Director of Fish and Wildlife and the Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs—but we got the cork kicked out of us at every turn by the City of Holyoke.
The support of Jack Coughlin meant a lot to me. When he was hit by the Jeep, he sustained multiple fractures to his back, neck and face, as well as five broken ribs. He’s now on a ventilator and a feeding tube. Hang in there, Jack.
So I’ve still been walking Ashley Reservoir with my daughter Maggie and we always spot trash along the way. I’ve got to admit because of COVID, I’m always wary to pick it up. But now as a tribute to Jack I’ve picked up the stick. I bought a Nifty Nabber so we can pick up the litter. I’ll use the grabber and leave Maggie holding the bag. Keep your dukes up.
