To the Editor:

This is a personal letter to you, my neighbors in Lehigh Acres.

I have a friend who related to me the contrast between his South American country and ours. He told me that it looks like everybody in his country just throws everything away on the streets. I personally witnessed a third world nation where no one was responsible to clean up, so everybody just added to the litter that laid among the houses, in the streets and in the harbor beside the city.

We need to spread the word that litter and dumping can hurt everyone here in Lehigh. Let’s work to make Lehigh Acres the cleanest town in Florida.

I have been part of a group that sponsors neighborhood cleanups, first as “Lehigh Clean Sweep” and now as Keep Lehigh Acres Beautiful working with the Lehigh Acres Community Initiative; affiliated with local Neighborhood Watch groups.

If you, the reader thinks the government cleans up neighborhoods or that jail birds do all of it; you are wrong. Actually ordinary citizens are doing a tremendous job clearing neighborhoods of trash like TV sets, old tires, furniture and every other thing that people discard, as well as picking up litter off the roads.

Moe than 20 tons of litter and junk were removed from Lehigh Acres in 2010, all by volunteer efforts. We invite you to become a member of our Keep Lehigh Acres Beautiful working group. We are in immediate need of help to fill out our program for 2011, see www.lehighcleansweep.org and call us at 239-222-4621.

In 2011, once we help make a neighborhood in Lehigh neat, we will ask the residents to form a Neighborhood Watch and keep their streets clean. The Neighborhood Watch is to protect you from theft and danger by watching each other’s property and streets and the litter removal is part of restoring value to our properties.

Your status as an organized arm of the Sheriff’s Department gives your voices more credibility when you call for someone to check out suspicious activity.

Another advantage of having an organization among your close neighbors is the ability to get help for street lights and report things like dumping and nuisance violations with Lee County Code Enforcement.

Lower crime in one neighborhood helps all of the community. Remember, this is our job as residents and we can get help if we organize and work. As an organized Neighborhood Watch group you can receive free training at a location of your choosing with Deputy Ray Dimm and the district Crime Prevention Practitioner, Larry Gutridge at 239-477-1802. Will you volunteer to form a Neighborhood Watch?

John C. Miller

Lehigh Acres