Struthers sponsors poster contest for fourth-graders

January 29, 2011 at 12:04a.m.

By jeanne starmack

struthers

Yes, keeping pesticides out of the storm drain is important, and the slogans and artwork on their posters will help educate people about that.

But let’s cut to the most exciting part of a storm- water poster contest for the 134 fourth-graders at Struthers Elementary School.

“Is the money in cash or a check?” asked 9-year-old Margaret Lucarelli.

Bob Gentile, the city’s storm-water manager, answered her question with another question: “What do you want, cash or a check?”

“Cash! Cash! Cash!” chanted many of the other pupils who were gathered in the school’s cafeteria Friday morning to hear Gentile and Mayor Terry Stocker explain what they would need to do to compete for prizes — $100 for first-place and $50 each for second- and third-place.

The first-place winner will also get his or her picture on a billboard either on Fifth Avenue or Youngstown- Poland Road.

All three winners will be in a commercial produced with money from the city’s storm-water utility fund — that’s the $3.50 a month their parents pay for stormwater management, Stocker explained.

Some of that money, he added, is supposed to be used for education. The posters should have a spring theme that includes mentions of grass clippings, pesticides, household cleaners and paint as what not to put in the storm drains.

“It goes to the river, doesn’t it?” Stocker pointed out. “Those fish there. To live, they need clean conditions.”

The commercial will air in May. A fall-themed commercial about keeping the drains free of leaves, which aired several months ago, cost about $2,500 to produce and air, said storm-water secretary Linda Clyde. The billboards cost about $500 each.

Entries are due March 7, and winners will be announced March 16.