HEY KID, DROP THAT CANDY!

The Capital (Annapolis, MD) 092706 (C9-29)

Copyright 2006 Capital Gazette Communications, Inc.

All Rights Reserved

The Capital (Annapolis, MD)

September 27, 2006 Wednesday

HEY KID, DROP THAT CANDY!

BYLINE: EARL KELLY; Staff Writer

SECTION: FRONT; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 554 words

Snickers, Starbursts and Butterfingers. Tootsie Rolls, Crunch and Twizzlers. Almond Joys and Hershey bars.

No, this isn't a Halloween shopping list - it's just some of the candy wrappers that were blowing along Taylor Avenue yesterday.

The candy, thrown at Naval Academy midshipmen as they marched to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium for Saturday's game, made a slimy, squishy and nasty mess underfoot (and under tire), despite ef-forts by area residents and the city to clean it up.

In some places, the paper and plastic had accumulated at the mouth of storm drains, waiting for the next rain to wash it into the Severn River.

"People throw, literally, thousands of (pieces)," said Lisa O'Leary, who lives near the stadium on Genes-see Street. "It would be all well and good, if we didn't have this litter."

Ms. O'Leary said she and her husband often go out on Sundays after the games, to pick up the debris.

Herself a member of a Navy family, Ms. O'Leary said she wants to show support for the academy, but not by littering area streets and streams.

"A round of applause, that would be great," she said. "I just don't understand why we are throwing candy at adults."

Naval Academy spokesman Deborah Goode said the academy appreciates "the community's strong support of the Naval Academy," but wishes the candy-throwing would cease.

"We ask that people refrain from tossing candy to midshipmen to avoid possible injuries and littering the streets of Annapolis," Ms. Goode said.

Area resident Barbara MacLeod recently wrote to The Capital, to express concern that tossing items at midshipmen would injure someone.

"Why do people assault aspiring astronauts, pilots, submarine officers and other members of our military with hurled candy?" she asked. "The potential of eye injury is great."

No one knows exactly when the tradition of tossing candy at mids started, but it appears to be relatively recent.

Lawrence Heyworth III, Class of 1970 and vice president of communications for the Naval Academy Alumni Association, said crowds did not toss candy at mids when he attended the academy.

"Our mission is perpetuate the history, traditions, memories and growth of the Naval Academy, but this candy-throwing isn't a tradition, it's a bad habit," Mr. Heyworth said.

Regardless of whenever the candy toss started, some area residents said it's time to put an end to the tradition, if for no other reason than the debris ends up in people's yards, or washed into the Chesapeake Bay.

"Those who hurl should come back the following day to view the sugary debris littering Taylor Avenue," Ms. MacLeod wrote.

Ms. O'Leary, who has lived near the stadium for 14 years, said the tradition has gotten completely out of hand in recent years. Crowds toss bottles of water at the midshipmen, and the plastic bottles end up in the storm water drains.

The midshipmen, who are on duty and marching, can't stop to catch the items thrown at them.

City Administrator Bob Agee said crowds sometimes throw candy at the mids as they march along Main Street, as well as along Taylor Avenue.

Mr. Agee said the city uses a combination of street cleaner and crews with brooms, in an effort to get up most of the candy.

"It is a tradition we would prefer to be toned down and eventually eliminated," Mr. Agee said of the candy toss. "It costs us money to clean up the mess."