TO TH EEDITOR: THE NORTHFIELD NEWS HAVING JUST returned from a trip to New Jersey, I do so with an enhanced sense of pride in our state of Vermont. The highways in the "Garden State" may be lined in late April with gloriously blooming redbuds, dogwoods and flowering fruit trees, but detracting mightily from the beauty are the copious amounts of roadside debris, nearly everywhere you look.

It is no accident that Vermont has escaped this fate over the years, largely because of the pervasive, eco-friendly consciousness from which originally sprang, one spring, the concept of Green Up Day, 40 years ago. Yes, Green Up Vermont has officially reached middle-age, but with no signs of slowing down! Every year on the first Saturday of May, thousands of volunteers from across the state set out to scour the highways, byways and riverbanks of unsightly rubbish - and, in the process, find themselves communing with neighbors - and nature - in a meaningful way.

The chief activity of Roxbury's (or any other town's) participation in Green Up Day is, of course, the collection and disposal of trash. To qualify as legitimate Green Up trash, it needs to have been generated by someone other than yourself, your family or friends (or even by the folks from whom you acquired your land and who conveniently forgot to inform you that you were purchasing an ancient landfill as well). Green Up bags can be picked up at the Roxbury Town Office during regular office hours, and there's always a stash on my front porch (the house between the school and the post office) available any time. Once you've filled a bag to bulging, just leave it by the roadside, for our trusty volunteer to pick up. But if you decide to deliver it to the Town Garage yourself, be prepared to be tempted there by a variety of decadent sweets!

Aside from our usual Green Up activities, which include a library book sale, bake sale and raffle drawing at the Senior Center, and a Free-For-All Town Picnic at the Firehouse at noon, the Roxbury Selectboard has arranged for a tire disposal (your own tires) at the Town Garage for only $2.00 a pop, plus a scrap metal/discarded appliance drop-off, free-of-charge (exceptions:no freezers, refrigerators or anything containing Freon - Superman take note!). Plus, Roxbury's own Energy Czar, Carlos Montero, will be surveying the masses for ideas and opinions on increasing our town's energy efficiency, with an eye toward the enviable title: Greenest Town in the Green Mountains! Go, Roxbury! Green Up, Everyone!

CLAIRE CHOMENTOWSKI

Roxbury