Volunteers Help Remove Tires From Arkansas River

In a single morning, a few dedicated people pulled more than a hundred tires out of the Arkansas River, in an effort the group hopes will expand to clean up a larger section of the river.

“We've got some equipment and some people,” said Ben Neal, with Local Farm OK, “so we thought we'd make an effort to get it done.” Neal and his employees rolled out dozens of tires and stacked them, so the City can haul them off.

It was the work of Zane Bettis that sparked the effort. He decided to stand up some tires to draw attention to how many are in there. The spectacle of so many tires, suddenly noticeable because they were upright, caught the eye of many people who before drove over the bridge without seeing them. Tiffany Day, who helped out Saturday, said “He triggered the idea, yes we saw him and we appreciated his efforts.”

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Many of the tires were old and appeared to have been in the river for years. The one-day cleanup resulted in about 150 tires hauled out, but there are many more. “It's not just tires, there's all kinds of trash down here that needs to be cleaned up,” said Neal, who said he expects another effort to take place Saturday, September 3.