Wakefield clean-up effort disposes of 4,000 tires

WAKEFIELD TOWNSHIP — The joint Wakefield and Wakefield Township clean-up effort at the Western Upper Peninsula Recycling Center in the township’s industrial park last Friday and Saturday, yielded better than expected results. John Cox, township supervisor, said they expected 3,000 tires would get dropped off, but they received 4,000 and roughly 85 tons of waste was removed, too. Cox said both municipalities were thrilled community members “came out to properly dispose of their tires and to clean up the roadsides.” Cox said Wakefield Township generated eight large roll-off dumpster loads, equaling about 25 tons of waste junk items removed from the township. The city of Wakefield doubled the number of dumpster loads removed with 16, removing about 60 tons of waste. The Gogebic Range Solid Waste Authority serviced the dumpsters for both municipalities and according to Cox. Cox and Richard Brackney, Wakefield city manager, declared the clean-up a success and were thankful for the army of volunteers from both municipalities that cared enough to make both communities cleaner and stronger. — Ian Minielly