The Sun Journal published a front page story on my efforts to rally my neighborhood to clean up after itself (“Neighborhood challenge: Get clean,” Sept. 17).

A little trash talk has proven to provoke a few people to take a little pride. I looked out the window the other day and I saw a lady with a grocery bag picking up garbage. My next door neighbor has chained a trash barrel outside and has begun painting the porch. The city’s public works department sent two street sweepers and a crew to clean a vacant lot overridden with rubbish.

The area now looks a little more like a neighborhood and a little less like a “hood.”

The main message I was trying to convey was that though we may be poor, we need not live like pigs. The signs and messages have been well received by most of the residents.

I don’t desire to make this a community project as much as to promote a happier, healthier and safer neighborhood for all of us to live in. I do not seek outside help or assistance from those who live from away as much as I would like to see more involvement by those who live where the trash is left.

I believe cleanliness is next to godliness.

The Rev. Doug Taylor, Lewiston

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