‘We were very scared' New Yorkers watch in horror as Mexican Navy ship strikes Brooklyn Bridge
Joyous singing turned to screams Saturday night as New Yorkers who turned out to Pier 17 for a send off of a Mexican Navy ship on a goodwill tour watched in horror and disbelief as the vessel slammed into the Brooklyn Bridge.
Ismari Romero and her sister Miriam had been in contact with some of the 277 sailors aboard the Cuauhtémoc — and even given them a tour of the Big Apple while the majestic vessel was docked at the South Street Seaport this week.
'We were celebrating and we were saying goodbye and singing. We were all joyful, and they departed,' Romero, 43, told The Post. 'And when they reached the Brooklyn Bridge, I believe they hit the bridge and the top collapsed.
3 The crumpled mast of the Cuauhtémoc after the Mexican vessel slammed into the scaffolding under the Brooklyn Bridge.
Nelson Slinkard via Storyful
'We were very scared. A lot of people were screaming, a lot of people were crying. They're like, 'How is this happening? How is it is this possible?' ' the health care worker recalled.
Miriam Romero, 50, had been among a group of Mexican American New Yorkers who turned out Tuesday to welcome the Cuauhtémoc as it sailed into New York.
'We were proud that the Mexican naval school is visiting in New York,' Ismari said.
The ship, including 277 crewmembers, is on an eight month training tour that includes 22 ports in 15 countries. New York was the third stop on a trip that included visits to Jamaica, Iceland, and Portugal.
After a welcome party, Miriam showed seven of the sailors around downtown Manhattan, including Pier 26 and Canal Street.
3 The incident left 19 people hurt, including four who were critically wounded.
James Keivom
They grabbed pizza and then walked over the Brooklyn Bridge — not knowing the horror that would unfold days later and leave 19 people hurt, four of them critically.
'I have a son who is a US marine. So this is especially emotional,' Ismari Romero said.
The Cuauhtémoc was built in Spain in 1982 with the sole purpose of training cadets.
Video showed the ship's 147-foot tall mast, adorned in lights, crumpling as it sailed along the East River — and ran straight into the nearly 1,600 foot span of the historic bridge.
3 The Cuauhtémoc was on an eight month goodwill tour that included 22 ports in 15 countries and had been in New York since Tuesday.
James Keivom
The arrival of the Cuauhtémoc gave Big Apple residents a preview of next year's Sail4th event, which celebrates America's 250th birthday.
The mission of the Cuauhtémoc is to 'exalt the seafaring spirit, strengthen naval education and carry the message of peace and goodwill of the Mexican people to the seas and ports of the world,' according to the Mexican Navy.
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National Geographic
a day ago
- National Geographic
Free Asha. Or cage her? This question is at the heart of a bitter debate.
A photograph of Asha from February 2023 shows her in a 'capture box' at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico. This was the second time the endangered Mexican wolf, tagged F2754, was captured by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Asha has been held in captivity ever since. Photograph By Aislinn Maestas, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via AP Asha is circling the perimeter of her pen. She's pacing, moving with that long, rangy gait that all Mexican gray wolves have, her body graceful and liquid, motions smooth and purposeful. She stalks around jagged rocks, behind juniper bushes and yucca plants. She runs from the humans in her pen, anxious and hyperaware. For my part, I'm awestruck. This is the closest I've been to a wolf, and I'm only able to see her because she is currently being held in captivity by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in the Sevilleta Wolf Management Facility near Socorro, New Mexico. Asha has been ensnared; and like so many humans invested in her, so have I. As part of the Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan, each year federal, state, and tribal agencies across New Mexico and Arizona track and record the progress of the endangered species' population growth. Photograph By Chancey Bush, The Albuquerque Journal via AP The four-year-old she-wolf has been placed in the facility because she refuses to stay put, repeatedly crossing into territory off-limits to her. Born in the wild, likely a member of an Arizona pack, Asha has a history of traveling solo into the mountains of northern New Mexico, entering land that's forbidden to her kind by federal conservation policy. At least twice, she's roamed outside the perimeter of the recovery zone and into the forestlands north of Santa Fe. Asha, like all Mexican gray wolves, is supposed to stay within a specific region, one that stretches more than 153,000 square miles across southern Arizona and New Mexico and is bordered on the north by Interstate 40. The first time she crossed the line, in January 2023, Asha was captured near Angel Fire, New Mexico, and returned to the designated zone. When it happened for a second time in under a year, FWS officials determined that she was putting herself in danger and that she could no longer be trusted to roam on her own. FWS captured her in December 2023 from the southern Rocky Mountains and placed her in the Sevilleta facility. She has remained there ever since. Asha's restlessness has made her a contentious flash point between conservationists and FWS officials, who have conflicting perspectives on how to best save the gray wolf. Both agree that Asha's survival—and her ability to give birth, or whelp—is necessary to the continuation of her subspecies, which was once nearly hunted to extinction. But they disagree on almost everything else. This map shows Asha's route from southeastern Arizona to northern New Mexico from June through December 2023, shortly before she was recaptured by FWS. Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team FWS argues that it's dangerous for Asha to wander past the I-40 line, noting that she could be injured or shot by a rancher. Many wildlife conservationists vehemently object, insisting that Asha should be free to roam. Michelle Lute, a wolf biologist and executive director of Wildlife for All, has been advocating for Asha's release since 2023. 'I think Asha is teaching us what a lot of wolves would do if they had the chance,' she says. 'They have their own agency to choose the best habitats.' Asha has become imbued with meaning from multiple directions. On one side, there are U.S. government officials, who want Asha to mate, thus contributing to the limited gene pool of the population and growing the Mexican gray wolf population. On the other side are members of the public and wildlife advocates, who believe that Asha, like all members of the wild world, innately knows what is best for her. She is following her instincts, and we should redesign our world to support her natural behavior, they maintain. As I look at Asha pacing her pen, one thing is clear to me: Asha has become more than a wild canine, temporarily penned for her own safety. She has been turned into humanity's struggle against nature itself, our collective hubris, our calamitous march into the Anthropocene. Asha, of course, knows none of this. Asha stands, alert, in her enclosure near Socorro, New Mexico. Her restlessness has made her a contentious flash point between conservationists and FWS officials. Although I think Asha is heartbreakingly beautiful, the truth is that she's an unremarkable female member of her species, with a scruffy reddish-brown coat, white belly, and black-tipped tail. She looks like a coyote, and like most of her subspecies, she isn't much bigger than my own dog. Mexican gray wolves typically weigh between 50 and 80 pounds and measure around five feet from nose to tail. There is nothing technically special about Asha. Despite that, the restless lobo, according to local media, has 'captured the hearts' of Southwesterners, many of whom are outraged by her captivity. Asha is easily the most famous wolf in the region, possibly the most beloved. More than just an endangered wolf, she's become a symbol. In 2023, a reporter for Source New Mexico wrote that Asha is 'resilient in the face of peril,' a creature that 'breaks assumptions, something many New Mexicans can relate to.' Even her name was a gift, bestowed by an Arizona schoolchild. From that perspective, it's easy to see Asha as a tragically imprisoned victim of the state that deserves to roam free. But officials at FWS don't see her that way. To them, she is F2754—that's the number FWS has given her—a healthy member of an endangered species, well on her way to fulfilling her biological destiny to help repopulate that species. Created in the late 1990s, the recovery zone is derived from the projected historic habitat of the Mexican gray wolf, where FWS biologists believe the species would have thrived centuries ago, based on site feasibility studies and land surveys. (Members of the public were also allowed to weigh in on the project and its scope through opinion surveys and public meetings.) Although FWS has held steady in insisting that this is where these wolves belong, the boundaries of the zone continue to be a hot topic of debate, especially as climate change has already taken its toll on the delicate ecosystems of the region and as wolves like Asha continue to test its limits. In December 2023, Asha was paired with two male Mexican gray wolves (brothers) that were raised in captivity. This year was her second mating season; the first one failed to produce offspring, and officials pulled one of the two males upon realizing that Asha had better bonded with the other. FWS was hoping that Asha would mate with a captive Mexican gray male to increase the species' genetic diversity. In early spring 2025, the two wolves were observed via the facility's trail camera engaging in several completed 'ties' (i.e., mating sessions), and on May 20, FWS confirmed that Asha had produced a litter of pups. It is unclear what will happen to Asha, her pups, and her mate. It is possible that their small pack will be released into the wild, together. This is what advocates want. The idea is that Asha will teach her cubs, and thus also her mate, how to survive in the recovery zone. It is also possible that they will all remain in captivity. 'We are not going to foster any pups from her litter,' says a spokesperson for FWS. Right now, the plan is to continue 'giving her space' so she can 'provide the best' for her offspring. There is no set release date for Asha at this time. Bringing the Mexican gray wolf back from the brink of extinction Another truth: Asha is remarkable. She is one of fewer than 300 Mexican wolves in the United States, part of a growing but still fragile population. History is important to Asha's story. Long before FWS and conservationists began butting heads over the fate of one wolf, they had to work together to save the Mexican gray from the brink of extinction. By the 1970s, the Mexican gray wolf had been virtually eliminated from the wild with only a handful living in captivity, the others likely killed by ranchers and sport hunters. 'We wiped out all the wolves in the United States,' says Jim Heffelfinger, a wildlife science coordinator for the Arizona Game and Fish Department and member of the 2010 Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan. In 1976, shortly after the Endangered Species Act was passed, Mexican wolves were officially listed as endangered, but their survival looked grim. The subspecies survived only because of the Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan, an international program designed to restore the animals to southern America and northern Mexico. Founded by FWS, the recovery plan was approved and put into motion in 1982. The first wild release took place in 1998 with a founding population of just seven animals that were freed inside the newly identified Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area. Some of those were sourced from zoos and wildlife centers, but the rest were captured from the wild by trapper Roy McBride. Conservationists and FWS officials tell the history of the wolves' reintroduction quite differently. For as long as the government has been patrolling the great outdoors, it has had a hand in the death of wolves. Although the organization has gone by several different names since its inception in 1871, FWS has a long history of trapping, shooting, poisoning, and otherwise targeting wild canines. For hundreds of years, wolves were considered, at best, a livestock-stalking pest and at worst, a threat to the nation's children. In the 1800s, bounty programs began, which eventually offered $20 to $50 for every wolf carcass. These proved wildly effective. 'In 1945 they successfully killed the very last wolf in the western United States that had been born in the West,' says Michael Robinson, senior conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. 'It was a very organized program. A systemized, efficient, comprehensive killing of wolves.' FWS frames the story differently: 'The history of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the corresponding management of wolves reflects public perception,' says a spokesperson for the agency. 'In the early days of the agency, the focus was on control of wolves to mitigate conflict with livestock and other human activities, reflecting the dominant public sentiment.' In Robinson's version of events, McBride wasn't just a skilled tracker of Mexican wolves; he was the best at killing them. 'They sent one of their most experienced wolf trappers to Mexico. He had done that work for decades—not just trapping, but poisoning wolves,' Robinson continues. 'They hired [McBride] but with a twist, one he had never seen before: Keep them alive after you capture them.' Rick LoBello, a former executive director at four national parks and longtime friend of the late trapper, tempers this: 'I told Roy once that he was riding the fence. One day he was out trying to save the wolves, and the next day he was out killing them. Wherever the money was, he would follow it.' Out of the nine wolves that the government procured, only seven managed to mate, creating a very limited gene pool. It proved to be enough; after the release of the first mated pair in 1998, their numbers continued to grow. Taken on June 7, 2023, this photograph shows Asha having a health check before being released into the wild in southeastern Arizona. Photograph By Aislinn Maestas, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via AP Because of this complicated history—and the wolves' near extinction—it's likely that Asha is inbred. In other wolf populations, like those on Isle Royale in Michigan, inbreeding has led to severe bone deformities, including misshapen spinal vertebrae, as well as increased incidence of fused digits (syndactyly). Since the Mexican wolves were reintroduced, they have mated in the wild and produced healthy pups. These individuals have sometimes been captured and used for mating in captivity, though some have been left to their own devices in the wild. In 2014, FWS introduced a fostering program, where healthy, captive-born pups were taken from their parents and placed in the wild dens of mated pairs, alongside their natural offspring. The idea is that the wild wolves will raise and care for these foster pups with their own, thereby diversifying the gene pool. The agency announced in March 2024 that 'fostering is working,' and, as of 2023, 15 fostered pups had reached breeding age. But activists and conservationists outside of the agency disagree that inbreeding is necessarily harmful. Robinson argues FWS's wolf recovery program isn't trying to ensure that Mexican gray wolves thrive in the wild at all. Instead, he says, the program is hobbling the population's growth through focusing on programs that have limited survivorship, like placing foster pups in the dens of unrelated mated pairs. Wolf advocates argue that the low survival rates are evidence that the fostering program is a failure. 'They need to be releasing bonded pairs with their pups. We haven't seen that happen in a long time,' Robinson says. Whether or not genetic purity is necessary is also a topic of hot debate. At approximately 60 percent of the size of northern wolves, gray wolves are 'the most genetically distinct gray wolves in North America,' Heffelfinger explains. 'They're so unique, and so different.' One reason the I-40 boundary was established was to prevent the Mexican gray from mating with wolves in the Rockies, which could happen if Asha were allowed to continue her travels north. This is the challenge: To increase the genetic diversity of the remaining grays, without diversifying so far that they start to resemble another species. 'Our legal obligation under the Endangered Species Act is to recover the Mexican wolf as it is listed in its uniqueness,' Heffelfinger says. 'And I think, personally, we have a moral obligation to not dilute the centuries and eons of evolution.' Asha should mate, he says, and she should do it in captivity, under the oversight of the FWS, and with her own kind. The question of whether Mexican gray wolves should be allowed to mate with other gray wolves (or as Heffelfinger calls them, 'Canadian wolves') is at the core of the debate around where they are allowed to roam. By keeping Mexican grays confined to the areas south of I-40, FWS is following the Endangered Species Act as it currently stands. It is respecting the findings of scientific studies on the historic range of the species. FWS says that the Mexican gray wolf evolved to thrive in a lower-altitude, dry forested habitat known as the Madrean pine-oak woodlands, and it doesn't want to see them venturing onto higher, wetter ground. Furthermore, Lute argues that we should allow released wolves to show us where they can thrive rather than impose arbitrary borders on their movements. The casualty of this approach may be the genetic purity of a species, but Lute sees this as no great loss. Nature, she argues, should take its course. 'This way of thinking, where we can define species along clear lines,' Lute says, is strictly a human perception. In a fostering program introduced in 2014 by FWS, captive-born Mexican gray wolf pups are taken from their parents and placed in the wild dens of mated pairs. The idea is that the wild wolves will raise and care for these foster pups, thereby diversifying the gene pool of the endangered subspecies. Photograph By Daniel Becerril, Reuters/Redux Asha is a restless soul, an independent wanderer. She doesn't appreciate humans very much; her tendency to chew on any cameras in her pen means that all monitoring devices must be strung up outside the perimeter of the fence. According to FWS, she's the most active wolf at the facility—and curious too. But biologists don't believe that Asha's travels were inspired by that curiosity or some greater desire to see the world. They think she went loping up toward Colorado to find a mate. She's a pack creature; it simply doesn't make sense for her to strike out on her own. Despite the disagreements over Asha's welfare, everyone agrees that her new status as a mother is a positive sign. Should she be released, she may feel less inclined to wander, now that she's started a pack. Or perhaps she'll keep traveling, this time with pups and mate in tow. The fate of Ella, another Mexican gray wolf (FWS name: F2996), shows yet another potential outcome for Asha and her offspring. In late January 2024, FWS captured Ella as part of their annual count. In early February 2025, Ella escaped from her crate while being transported and ran from FWS officers. In her freedom, she traveled from outside Show Low, Arizona, to an area north of I-40 in New Mexico, near Mount Taylor. Ella was found dead at the end of March. Her death is under investigation by FWS, who recently confirmed that necropsy results show that she died via 'interspecies conflict, likely a bear or mountain lion.' Like Asha's story, Ella's has been irreversibly politicized. For those in support of FWS's handling of Mexican gray wolf recovery, Ella's life and death are evidence of its soundness. Wolves should not be allowed north of the boundary; just look what happens. For those who oppose the official recovery zone, Ella is an example of how wrong the boundaries are. 'Her roaming was teaching us about where Mexican gray wolves choose to be,' said Greta Anderson, deputy director of Western Watersheds Project, in a statement. 'The agencies insist on keeping wolves south of Interstate 40 in Arizona and New Mexico based on the 'historic range' of the species, but wolves like Ella live in the present and they are showing us their species' future is in an expanded northern range.' And before Ella, Anubis (or M2520) roamed north of the I-40 line in 2021 and was shot and killed a year later. He was wearing a bright pink tracking collar indicating, the Arizona Republic reported, 'the shooter knew the wolf was an animal of value to science.' Though killing a Mexican gray is illegal, that is the leading cause of death for these animals. According to the organization Earthjustice, 'More than 70 percent of documented wolf fatalities are human caused,' with over 105 killed in the past two decades. Robinson argues that FWS placates nearby ranchers, allowing them to get away with shooting endangered wolves. 'I thought it was a coyote,' is their get-out-of-jail-free phrase, Robinson says. The government, he says, has 'over and over again taken the side of ranchers against the wolves.' FWS disputes that: 'Our goal is to recover Mexican wolves in a way that balances the needs of people, predators, and livestock over the long term,' the agency says. 'We strive to achieve coexistence with and social tolerance for Mexican wolves, and we remain committed to the long-term recovery of this subspecies alongside thriving local communities.' Heffelfinger scoffs at claims like Robinson's. 'They can advocate, and they can cast aspersions on agencies working with ranchers,' he says. 'But the truth is you are not going to recover a controversial carnivore on a working landscape by just saying, 'We're the government; here are the wolves.' No recovery will be successful if you don't work with them.' And there are plenty of private landowners who welcome the return of the wolf, which is good news. While there have been dips and peaks in the population, the overall trend is toward growth, which adds credence to Heffelfinger's argument: 'We're here to recover the wolves,' he says. 'I'm not interested in people naming one wolf and talking about how she feels.' A Mexican wolf is released back into the wild with a radio collar. Anubis, another Mexican wolf, was wearing a bright pink collar when he was shot. Photograph By Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team Defying borders Another truth: Asha's fate is undecided. Right now, she's pacing and prowling, running in circles around her one rocky outcropping, her few scattered pines. She is with a companion she didn't choose in a place she doesn't want to be. But maybe she's fine with both companion and place. Maybe her new litter of pups is a sign that Asha is content, healthy, and happily fulfilling her biological destiny. The problem with animals is that it's impossible to know their desires, and so we map our own onto them. It's possible that Asha is simply frantic because she doesn't like having humans so close. Still, it's hard to witness her distress. Heffelfinger would say I'm personifying Asha—wrongly so. But her story is so evocative, it's easy to imagine she too is stewing in uniquely human frustrations. It's easy to see her as a female lacking in agency, denied choices and freedoms. Here is an even harder truth: What's best for Asha and what's best for Mexican gray wolves may not be the same thing. She represents an unruly tangle of contradictions, caught in decades' worth of history that has left the apex predator vulnerable. Asha may turn out like Ella; she and her pups may be released; or she may live in captivity for the rest of her life. But Asha's story is about more than just Asha. Her fate has already set a precedent, one that could affect every endangered wolf that dares to cross an invisible boundary and be found suddenly in the spotlight, in the news, in peril. But as Asha and the other wandering Mexican gray wolves have made clear, the human-designed boundaries are not theirs.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
As Jupiter enters Cancer, expect magic milk and healing waters
On June 9, Jupiter, our gas giant planet of luck, abundance, games of chance, and inclinations of excess, will set up his roulette wheel in the breast milk founts of Cancer for the first time in over a decade. The zodiac's good-timing, dice rolling, drunk uncle will remain in the sign of the crab until June 2026. With a gilded touch and a gouty toe, Jupiter expands all that he touches. In the feelings-forward, intuitive, and home-centric sign of Cancer, that expansion is found through healing, healthy boundaries, and fortified foundations. On a collective level, we will all benefit from the vulnerability, magic, and depth lent by Jupiter in Cancer. In Gemini, Jupiter is about the expansion of expression, while in Cancer, the power of plenty extends to reflection and tending to the wounded waters from which we came. Aiding and abetting our understanding of this transit is the brilliant astrologer and spiritual counselor Letao Wang. 'As Jupiter moves into Cancer, we are invited into a period of emotional growth, deepened connections, and collective care. When in Cancer — a sign ruled by the Moon and deeply tied to home, family, and emotional security — this transit encourages us to expand our hearts, heal old wounds, and build stronger foundations in both our personal and collective lives,' Wang told The Post. Jupiter enters Cancer on June 9 and will remain in the backwater of the crab until June 30, 2026. Jupiter is exalted in the sign of Cancer, meaning the planet can fully express its powers and prowess and in turn, its easier for we mortals to receive and access its boons and bounty. 'Jupiter's journey through Cancer will emphasize themes of compassion, protection, and humanitarian efforts. We may see increased focus on housing security, food accessibility, and support for families and children. Governments and organizations could prioritize policies that nurture communities, such as improved healthcare or social safety nets. Emotionally, the world may feel more inclined toward unity and empathy, with a collective desire to care for one another—especially those in vulnerable situations.' Wang shared that this transit also supports creative and domestic pursuits. 'Art, music, and storytelling that evoke nostalgia or emotional resonance will flourish, and many may feel drawn to reconnect with their roots, whether through family, tradition, or homeland.' Cancer is about nurturance and Jupiter is about amplification. In kind, this transit ehannces our ability to heal. According to Greek myth, after completing his arduous labors, the exhausted hero Hercules struck the earth with his club. In response, the ground gave was, fissuring and flooding into hot springs. Lowering himself into the water, Hercules was healed, his muscles soothed and his spirit restored. Jupiter in Cancer invokes a similar energy, a summons to transmute suffering into salve and heal ourselves through ourselves. A divine dive in. Surf's up, mothertruckers. Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture, and personal experience. To book a reading, visit her website.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Shenandoah cleanup aims to bring community together again
When Shenandoah held its first townwide cleanup this spring, five dumpsters worth of junk were removed from public and private properties by volunteers, making a big difference in the borough's appearance. But the benefits of that 'Shenandoah One Community, Helping Each Other' effort, as it was called, went far beyond that, officials said. Working hard together on that rainy April day united people who'd never met before, 50 residents and officials from different neighborhoods, backgrounds and ethnicities pitching in for the good of Shenandoah, officials said. Afterward they celebrated together with a picnic, feasting on donated food of all types, from Italian to Mexican to Polish to Dominican. And now the borough is looking to make such cleanups into regular events, with the next scheduled for Saturday, June 21. 'The town was getting a little cruddy looking,' said Shenandoah Council President Joseph Boris. 'So we decided to be proactive. And being proactive gets results.' Those volunteering for the June 21 cleanup should meet outside borough hall on W. Washington Street at 9:45 for a quick safety briefing. The work will take place from 10:30 to 3:30, rain or shine, followed by another big picnic at the Columbia Fire Company, with restaurants from town again donating the food. There is no need to bring trash bags or gloves as those will be provided. 'Just bring yourselves, be ready to work for a few hours and bring a healthy appetite,' said borough manager Mike Cadau. Members of the Shenandoah community pick up trash along a road during a Community Cleanup event in April. (SUBMITTED) The upcoming cleanup will work much like the first, with the volunteers walking through as much of the town as they have time for, picking up trash wherever they find it. In many cases the volunteers knocked on doors to let people know that they were there to help clean their yards, and often the residents were thankful for that help and came out to assist. It's also an educational day, Cadau said, as those whose properties are getting run-down will be politely told of the borough's ordinances against high grass, debris and other maintenance violations, and how they can get into compliance instead of facing code enforcement penalties. While last time the volunteers loaded up mattresses, downed fences and other large pieces of debris in the dumpsters, this time they'll focus on smaller items and inform people of the process for getting bigger things hauled away. That involves paying the borough $15 for a tag to place on those items, which the borough will then haul away, a much cheaper rate than they'd pay if they took it to the landfill themselves, Cadau said. When Boris and four others were finishing for the day during the April cleanup, they walked by Divine Mercy Parish on W. Cherry Street and several of the nuns invited them inside the chapel to bless them, which was indicative of the appreciation that the cleanup received, Boris said. 'The whole town supported us,' he said. That includes the community group La Casa de los Latino, an organization led by resident Victor Aquino. Shenandoah's Latino population is just as interested as anyone in improving the borough, he said, and it was happy to be part of the cleanup. 'It was good,' he said. 'A lot of people joined us. We all want to get our town looking better.' Cadau agreed, saying the cleanup was a day of unity that should help break down ethnic barriers in the community going forward. The post-cleanup picnic was a good example. 'It was a nice way to celebrate what we accomplished together. There was a lot of camaraderie,' he said. 'And the food was delicious. I tried things I'd never had before.' 'It's all about taking the opportunity to get to know each other,' he said. 'People are people.' Since the first cleanup, there has been a big increase in code violation tips called into the borough office, he said. That shows that more people are caring about the state of things and taking pride in their community, which is what borough officials want, he said. Volunteers for June 21 can sign-up in advance by calling the borough office at 610-462-1918, or they can just show up at borough hall at the meeting time. Even those who don't start the day as volunteers can take part, Cadau said, by keeping an eye out for the large group that will working its way through town wearing the yellow 'Shenandoah One Community' shirts, he said. 'If you see us, come out and join us,' he said.
