Texas beach clean-up honors Ike victims

CRYSTAL BEACH, Texas, April 26 (UPI) -- The annual Texas spring beach clean-up had added importance this year, the first after Hurricane Ike pounded the state's Gulf Coast, participants said.

As is the case every year, thousands of volunteers spread out across Texas beaches Saturday from the Mexican border to Sabine Pass in a ritual sponsored by the Texas General Land Office, but volunteers told the Houston Chronicle it was different because some of the beach debris was the result of tragedy.

Some of the volunteers concentrated on the Bolivar Peninsula, which took a direct hit from the September windstorm, the newspaper said.

"This is the wreck of people's lives," said Laura Petrie of Conroe, Texas, while working near a cracked driveway.

It got special attention from three volunteers: former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, who attended the clean-up along with his wife Barbara Bush and former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker.

"Of all the places along the Texas coast, I am very grateful he chose here," added Katie Coghlan, who told the Chronicle she has lived in Crystal Beach, Texas, on the peninsula for 26 years. "Maybe Bolivar Peninsula can get the attention it deserves."