Councilors Learn About Purple Toilets

By John Larson

SOCORRO – Members of the Socorro City Council met in regular session Monday night, and were greeted by the presence of a purple toilet in the council chambers.
Socorro High School student Mariah Deters, representing the INTERACT club, told councilors that the toilet was part of a fund raising project for the annual Relay For Life.
“This is a different way to raise money for the American Cancer Society,” Deters said. “We will deposit a purple toilet in people’s front yards. The idea is to have people pay ten dollars for us to move it off.”
She said people can have other options.

“For fifteen dollars you can have it moved to a specific person’s lawn, and for an extra five dollars you can do it anonymously,” Deters said. “For every day the toilet is on someone’s lawn, they will be charged five dollars.
She said a $20 donation to the Relay For Life will buy immunity from the game.
“The INTERACT club has always done fund raisers Socorro’s Relay For Life, like car washes and bake sales, but this year we wanted something more fun, more interesting,” she said. “In years past we’re procrastinated until the last minute, so this time we started earlier to give more time to surpass our goal.”
The purple toilet fund raiser began Tuesday morning, when a purple toilet appeared on the lawn of Jon Spargo.
A second toilet is being donated by Councilor Gordy Hicks.
“We’re starting with a goal of one thousand dollars, but the more we reach the better,” Deters said.
The INTERACT Club is Rotary International’s service club for high schoolers which commits to at least two community service projects each year. The club recently showed children how to make woven heart pouches at the Community Arts Party at Finely Gym last month.

In other business:
Police Chief George Van Winkle gave the councilors copies of the department’s Dispatch Policies and Procedures. He said it outlined the basic standard operating procedures, but needed to be updated for the Enhanced-911 center, which “should be operational by the end of the month.”

Pictured: The lawn of Jon Spargo was the first location for INTERACT’s purple toilet Tuesday morning. Spargo said he paid the $10 fee for removal.

Photo by John Larson

Councilors Learn About Purple Toilets