For Laviolette, cleaning Lebanon road a rite of spring

Henry Laviolette says he's been cleaning this two-mile stretch of West Lebanon Road for about 35 years. (Harrison Thorp photo)

LEBANON - Henry Laviolette is getting a head start on Lebanon’s May 3 Cleanup Day.

Laviolette, who has lived in Lebanon for 55 years, was out on West Lebanon Road on Wednesday filling bags with bottles and cans thrown from cars over the long winter.

As the snow recedes and the thermometer rises he’s been hard at work carting off debris as soon as it’s exposed by melting snow piles once shoulder high from plow blades doing their winter weather job.

Lebanon Cleanup Day is scheduled for May 3 and is sponsored by the Town of Lebanon and The Lebanon Voice.

If any residents would like to donate money to buy supplies or food for a barbecue planned for volunteers after the morning cleanup, please contact Lebanon Voice editor Harrison Thorp at thelebanonvoice@aol.com or 207.432.2218.

Laviolette said he has been out picking up trash since milder temps hit Tuesday. He cleans the road all the way from Five Corners to the corner of West Lebanon and Upper Guinea roads, about two miles. He estimated he’d fill 10 grocery-sized bags of trash on Wednesday.

He said he’s been keeping this section of road clean for about 35 years, and he loves doing it. The biggest things he's removed is a bunch of tires, but mostly its bottles, cans and food wrappers.

One thing’s for sure, he said. Come May 3 Lebanon Cleanup Day organizers won’t have to worry about this section of West Lebanon Road.

It’ll be spic and span, he said.