Volunteers stepped up recently for the Brooklyn Center Little League, removing broken concrete and construction waste that had been dumped by unknown parties at the organization's baseball complex.
Two local companies — Barton Sand and Gravel, and Bituminous Roadways — removed the waste, along with yard clippings and household debris. And Scoreboard Pizza donated lunch.
That took care of much of the anticipated $18,000 cleanup cost, and anxiety, that the Little League faced.
There's still some work to be done, however. Earlier, the league had brought in fill dirt to shore up one of its baseball diamonds that had sunk and often fills with water. Those efforts were put on hold when a special permit was needed because of the field's proximity to Shingle Creek. The unused fill dirt remained on the league's property and soon became part of the mess that included the construction and household garbage.
Now city and county environmental agencies are working with the league to meet a Dec. 1 deadline of cleaning up dirt that remains near Shingle Creek.
"There's no reason to believe the rest of it won't be cleaned up," said Randy Anhorn, supervisor of Hennepin County's land and water unit.
As for the other debris, it wasn't the first time that items have been dumped near the field complex, which is in a relatively secluded location.
"We've always had a few things dumped back there. Small things we've been able to take care of," said Debbie Stoddard, the league's co-president. Those include kitchen sinks, chairs, couches, but never "large cement chunks."
