A dirty attempt to soil Weyburn's squeaky-clean image was foiled Friday morning, thanks to the quick action of the Weyburn Police Service.

Estevan mayor Tim Perry, armed with a couple bags of trash, was caught littering in Memorial Park next to Weyburn's City Hall. He was immediately taken in, and tossed into a jail cell to stew over his failed plan.

This was no doubt an underhanded trick to mess up Weyburn's clean streets, in preparation for the 2003 Golden Garbage Can campaign, which kicked off Friday with Estevan officially issuing its challenge to Weyburn.

"I'm very grateful we were fortunate to apprehend Perry in the act," said clean-up committee chairperson Debra Button.

The scene described above was actually a bit of "clean" fun, and was staged by Perry and Button to kick off the contest. Perry was not littering, and was not actually arrested by the police.

Weyburn is the defending champion, having blown Estevan out of the water in 2002 by a considerable margin.

The theme of this year's campaign for Weyburn is "Fix Up-Paint Up-Clean Up." The campaign will continue until the inspection of both Weyburn and Estevan by a volunteer committee, to be held over the course of a single day on Tuesday, May 27.

Area chairpersons will be making regular inspections of their zones for unsightly trash, but cleaning the city is a job requiring participation from all residents. Anyone needing help to transport their trash can call the Canadian Mental Health Association, who will take it out for $15 a load.

Along with the judging, several events will be held in conjunction with the 2003 Clean-up Campaign, including a trio of free garbage drop-off days at the dump on May 3, 10 and 18.

The annual Green Exchange, the largest garage sale in the city, will be held at Knox Hall on Saturday, May 10. This year's event is being held in co-operation with the Weyburn Girl Guides; anyone wanting to donate items may contact Button.

The Minor Ball Green Day, where minor ball players from around the city pick up trash, will be held Saturday, May 24.

Residential and best lane judging, conducted by the Sun Country Health Region, will be held Friday, May 16.

The City of Weyburn is also holding a poster contest in conjunction with the campaign for Grade 1-6 students in Weyburn.

Information has already been circulated to local schools, and all posters must be in by Friday, May 9. Prizes of $30 and $20 will be handed out to poster winners later in the month.

Watch the Weyburn Review for further announcements regarding the Clean-up Campaign.