Madison - When we went looking for 16-year-old Dustin West, he wasn't hard to find. He was right where his father said he'd be, on the public basketball courts, a gift given to the town of Madison from Thomas and Joyce Dillon back in 2002.

But not everyone treats the courts like Dustin, who considers this his second home. "You see the kids, they come over here, get a drink, and then just throw half of the drink on the ground and leave it there," West said.

Which leaves the few who do pick up after themselves to clean up the mess made by many. "It's a two second walk to the trash can," he said while shooting around Thursday afternoon. "It just builds up to the point where we can't keep up with it."

Until the one day when town officials had had enough. Dustin West and his friends showed up on a Saturday afternoon to play basketball only to find the courts were chained shut. "I was meeting a couple guys down here, and we walked over and saw the pad lock on it."

It had been closed by town officials until something was done to clean up the trash that had piled up. Not one to sulk, Dustin West, with the help of his partially disabled father, rolled up his sleeves and got to work. "We got here about 10:30 and we were cleaning. We took a lunch break of course cause guys have to eat. We finished about 4:30 that afternoon."

Not only had Dustin cleaned up all the trash, he cut back the ivy that had grown through the fence. Dustin's second home is now open again, but whether it stays open is up to the kids that choose to play here. "It's a great place to have and as long as we maintain it, it's gonna be great."

Print this Story