Although actual earth day is next saturday April 22nd, many area children are on vacation then, so we have gathered at the studios today to air essays.

MTBE is a local issue, having surfaced in '93 when reports leaked out that the Liberty water supply had been tainted by two local gas stations near the well.

The Bashakill wetlands is also nearby, and the watch group for the area is concerned about a proposal to build 5 250 room hotels on the property.  Golf course pesticides, sewer wastes and visual pollutions are all a concern.

Here are area kids talking about their concerns about the state of the earth's health:

Song 1: Jay Mankita - Living Planet
            self - info@jaymankita.com 800 268 8458

1:  Brendan Ference - Grade 5 Duggan School
      "I am going to be a River keeper"  (Reading early to get to his little league game)

Song 2:  Magpie  -  “Water”
             Circle of Life - Box 5467 Takoma Pk MD 20913
             “Keep it clean for me and I’ll keep it clean for you”

Members of Tri-Valley School, Grahamsville, New York.
Second and First grade students taking the part of nature.

2. Casey Hadden - Grade 2
     "Oh no! Someone is cutting the bamboo trees!"

3. Samantha Acito and Peter Di Milia 1st grade
     A fish speaking to the river
     "Bobby and Khristian are pouring gas in you!"

4  Christina Neist
    "the factory is polluting our air"

5. Dillon Curless,  Michael Freeman
    "Fish brought the garbage to the top and the whale snorted it out"

Song 3:  Jay Mankita - I am a Dolphin

Members of Mr. Nuttycombe's 6th grade from Narrowsburg Central

6. Will O’Brien - Nuttycombe
     "We are running out of space for stinky smelly landfills"

7. Amanda Cusumano
   “a free dump” Now that it costs, people won't pay to throw out other people's garbage.

8. Keith Anne Vanhelinski
   “I would get a large cleaning brigade”

9. Ginger Pierce
     “The road should only be used for cars, not garbage"

10 Angela Alvarado
    “Children can get hurt if they fall on glass"

11. Nicole Skursky
     "Our environment has things we need, and things we don't need"

12. Stephen
     “did you know garbage is dumped into the ocean?"

13. Stephanie Cliffard
      “people are aware of these problems, stilll they continue to pollute and litter”

14.  Shane Cardone
       “we use many things everyday that are made from recycled material"

Song 4:  David Roth - I Do Not Need a Bag
             Night at the Chez - 1 800 484 2367 D A V E

Duggan School, White Lake, NY  4th and 5th graders

15. Jillian Bell
     “we need to gt people to love animals as much as us”

16. Jillian Smith
     “if the animals die, we will die. I hate to see an animal die bcause of pollution”

17. Corey Lubniewski
     “the less oxygen you get to your vrain the less your brain works”

18  Boris Babic
     “I like trees how about you? They give shade, oxygen and you can climb them."

19  Matt McCauley
    “I hate when I ride my bike and see people throw things out the windows of cars"

20  Taylor Fasce-Alper
     “You should never breathe polluted air for very long."

21  Courtney Lambert
      "I think Earth Day should be everyday.  Plant lowers around your place"

22  Joanna Goldfarb
    “without animals we wouldn’t have a balanced"

23. Heather Von Hegel
    “garbage is like poison to the animals"

24. Robert Lornio -
     “can’t live without flowers and plants"

25. Meridith Gray
     “since I was able to walk, I have helped my family clean the road we live on, Happy Lane"

26. Sarah Morffi
      "join environmental clubs"

Song  5  Marlo Thomas and Friends Kermit the Frog and the Muppets
            On My Pond -  Free To Be You and Me
            "who said you could dump your garbage here, on my pond?"

Members of Tri-Valley School Garden Club spoke about thier club which meets once a month. They are planting a raised garden which is handicapped accesable.  It will be by the playground. They believed it made visitors and students proud of the school.  Hopefully butterflys and wild birds will be attracted to the bird feeders and flowers.  They invited people to the Grahamsville area.

27.  Mike Nickelson
28.  Kim Edwards
29.  Clarisa Leverich
30.  Charlie Edwards

Liberty Middle School  -Liberty, New York

Grade Six:
31. Britney Keater
      “ have cleanups and a picnic afterwards”
      “we should use old junk over”

Grade Five:
32. Catie Baker
     “it would be like someone making you get out of your home"
       "we should think about how animal’s homes are destroyed.”

Song 5:  Howlin at the Moon -Lay Down Your Wapper
             cassette  -  "they come into the forest with machines with giant teeth"

33. Britney Argent
      “you should keep a bag to throw your garbage in”

34. Elizabeth Babicz
      “it can be a better place for us and our children”

35. Kaitlyn Basso
      “we litter because we don’t feel like waiting to get to a garbage can”

36. Melissa Bonaparte
     “help keep the earth clean, and help the animals”

37. Shannon Cypher
     “why are our animals dying?”

38. Lanny Hansbury
    “The rainforest is the most beautiful land region of the world”
    “We are chopping so many trees that we can’t discover these medicines”

Song 6:  John Forster - Big Mac Tree
             Entering Marion - Philo
             "big mac come from the big mac tree"

39. Brian Hercules
      “thank you for taking care of our earth”

40. Ashley Harte
      “ smoking makes it hard for people to play sports”

41. Pedro Jackson
     “If our ozone layer is gone, we would fry. Air pollution is like smoking.
       It does the same thing to your lungs."

42. Adrianna Lovric
     “when I go for a walk with my grandma on the road we see
       soda cans and plastic. we bring a bag. "

43. Corey Ramos
     “It disgusts me when I see trash on the ground”
     “There is still a chance we can clean up our act”
     “I know some of us are helping, but we all should. Trash doesn’t bite”

44. Jeffrey Simpson
      “Endangered Species are being drastically wiped out”

45. Gregg Skiff
     “We should recycle”

46. Jonathon Snyder
     “In the rainforest there are 50 acres destroyed every minute”

47. Brianna Stafford
      "most of the world's life is in the rainforest"

48. Derrine Strother
      "people who drink soda should watch where they throw out the plastic"

49. Mike Weir
     “why throw garbage around?”

50. Ellen Wingert
     “We can’t fish in the lake”

51. Kevin Young
     “I go fishing in Mongaup and there is oil and garbage in the water”

52. Mackenzie Austin
     “I think the government should put more garabage cans along the road.

53. Tiffany Brenner
     “We are running out of fossil feuls. No one has the answers to all the problems in the world"

54. Nick Reed
     “My dog brought home a deer corpsthat had bullet holes in it.
       I want to bring up hunting out of season"

55. Amanda Zachman
     “some people think its ok to pollute the earth, its not.”

Phonecia Elementary School
Kevin La Monda's class:

56. Jade Shallow
     “how would you like it if a monkey came and tore down your home?"

57. Doug Clark
     “keep the planet clean”

58. Heather Short
     “please be aware of natural esources”

59. Kashia Wolf-Christensen
     “all you people in big and small companies, don’t pollute”

60. Jonathon Perrin
    “you don’t have to do anything huge, like build a park”

61. Thomas Sharon
     “without the earth, we wouldn’t be alive”
     “I think companies should find another way to get rid of garbage”

62. Jeremiah Reen
    “ right now pollution is killing fish, crabs, whales...

63. Carly Wolfrom
      “when General Electic dumped PCB’s into the Hudson River, it was a mess”

64. John Iapoce
      "Do the earth a favor, pick up trash and learn to recycle"

65. Madison Hilgers
     "celebrate our natural resources"
     "hey, big companies out there don't you want our children's children's children to see our beautiful earth?"

66. Chrissy Sutton
     "no one could eat the fish from the Hudson River"

67. Savia London
     "Plant something, help something grow, clean up your property"
      "I'm not saying this just cuz I had the chance to"

68. Sadie Burzan
     "By planting a tree you are helping the earth"

69. Colleen Reynolds
     "I try to make the earth look as beautiful as it once did before"

70. Jessie Tar
     "Earth day means spending time with the great outdoors"

71. Josh Dorsi
     "Pollution makes holes in the ozone layer" He thinks thats why there was not enough snow this winter.

72. Dylan Callahan
     "We really have a pretty earth"

Bailey Middle School in Kingston New York
Karen Knowlton's class

73. Steve Darwak
      "layers and layers of garbage make the landfill smell"
       "fumes from garbage affect the human body"

74.  Justine Maletta
       A poem about dolphins

75.  Nick Hanovice
      "Global warning has been a problem over the years but it has been generally ignored."

76.  Adam Scott
       "I hope oceans will become crystal clear."

77.  Nick Francis
      "Plastics we use are not biodegradable"

78.  Brendan Gaffney
      Nile crocodiles lives are in danger.

79.  Sarah Sottile
      "Deforestation isn’t a joke"

80.  James Thajudeen
      Nature's Pest poem

81.  Hamilton Darling
      Bald Eagles

82.  Kiersten Tschinkel
      "You and I need to help stop pollution"

83.  Rebecca Gill
      "Keep trees healthy"

Liberty Middle School 5th graders:

84. Britney Caruso
    " I think schools should get more involved with neighborhood garbage"

85.  Keith McArthur
      "We can try to cut down on gas"

86.  Scott Hamlin
      "The Neversink Reservoir got polluted. The DEP came to clean the water"

87. Mallory Ruiz
     "Lakes and steams are polluted because of the carelessness of people"

88. Josh Rosencrantz
     "Pollution destroys animal’s homes and food supply"

89. Richard Deis
    “A little from everybody is a lot”

90. Diana Gonzalez
     “Water we are drinking is contanimated from bacterias”

91. Miranada Hardy
     “You can't swim in Swan Lake anymore"

The students in the area go on an easter break starting Wednesday April 19th and one third grader extended an invitation to tour the solar system.

92. " Hi, I'm Stephen Webber. This week on Dwyer Ave in Liberty, I am building a scale model of the Solar System, using a volleyball for the sun, pinheads, peanuts and peppercorns for planets.  I will display these objcts in the proprtional distances.  Come on Thurday April 20th from 9 - 1 and I wIll be there handing out kits and instructions for you to tour the Solar System with me."