For more information, please contact:

Jodi Silva

Sr. Communications Specialist

Neighborhood Protection Division

Houston Police Department

(713) 218-5885

Robin Blut/Keep Houston Beautiful

Executive Director

(713) 839-8855

Firestone Supports Neighborhood Protection Corps Stop Trashing Houston Efforts In Honor of the Great American Cleanup ™

Firestone Tire & Service Centers will accept scrap tires at no charge

Houston, TX (May 2, 2006)…Lydia M. Williams, John C. Aranda , Trina M. Tillman, Robert W. Antasek , Louis Avina , Alicia Tovar, Bernard Garrett, Michael C. Jackson, Kenneth Horn, and Sharon J. Craft Neighborhood Protection Corps inspectors will be recognized today for their outstanding service in writing citations to prevent and eliminate blight in Houston neighborhoods.

Solid Waste supervisors Consuela (Connie) Fuentes, and Brett Sykes will be also recognized for their service. Stop Trashing Houston seeks to reduce the problem of heavy trash violations and illegal dumping through increased enforcement and public education.

This initiative includes working with partners from the non-profit and private sector Keep Houston Beautiful and Firestone. This month during the Great American Cleanup, Firestone Tire and Service Centers will accept residential used engine oil, automotive batteries and residential car and light truck scrap tires for proper recycling.

“I am very proud of the Neighborhood Protection Corps Inspectors that are receiving recognition from Keep Houston Beautiful and Firestone for their enforcement efforts in 2005. These outstanding Inspectors have gone above and beyond the call of duty to make the Neighborhoods in their area cleaner and safer places to live. Their hard work shows that they are truly committed to fighting the blight in our great City,” said Brian J. Lumpkin , Assistant Chief Houston Police Department Neighborhood Protection Corps

In November 2004, the city began a zero tolerance policy for heavy trash violations. If you put your heavy trash out before the scheduled time, you will get a ticket. The City's Neighborhood Protection Corps inspectors are tasked with enforcing the ordinance. However, key personnel in the Solid Waste Department are also authorized to write citations.

Firestone generously donated the plaques to be presented by Chief Brian Lumpkin and Solid Waste Director Buck Buchanan.

You may not think of your local automotive technician planting flowers, picking up trash or cleaning up a river - but between March 1 and May 31 that's exactly what will be happening all across the country.  Firestone Complete Auto Care, along with its operating parent companies BFS Retail & Commercial Operations, LLC (BFRC) and Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc. (BSAH), is pitching in again this year to help clean up communities across the country as part of Keep America Beautiful's Great American Cleanup.  The companies announced today that, for the fifth consecutive year, they will serve as a national sponsor of the cleanup event.

“We are happy to work with Keep America Beautiful in its valiant program. Our teammates continue their commitment to improving the community and the environment. The Great American Cleanup is a program we are happy to see succeed and grow each year, and we're proud of our teammates' continuing commitment to our environment,” said Larry Magee, chairman, CEO and president of BFRC. “We commend and thank all of our teammates across the country who have decided to make cleaning up their communities a personal responsibility.”

In addition to Firestone Complete Auto Care, each of BFRC's retail stores nationwide – including TiresPlus ™ and ExpertTire ™ stores – will:

Accept do-it-yourselfer used engine oil from the public for proper recycling at no charge;
Accept do-it-yourselfer automotive batteries from the public for proper recycling at no charge;
Accept scrap tires collected during organized community clean-up days for proper recycling at no charge.

BFRC's retail stores along with other plants and facilities operated by BSAH will participate in locally organized community cleanup events. Teammates will volunteer their time to help keep communities beautiful.

BFRC embraces a wide variety of environmental programs and commitments, including recycling scrap tires, oil, oil filters, antifreeze, air conditioning refrigerant, batteries and lead wheel weights, as well as other items. Most collected scrap tires will be recycled into beneficial uses such as construction material, fuel and rubberized surfaces for playgrounds or roads.

Firestone Complete Auto Care is an operating unit of BFS Retail and Commercial Operations, LLC. BFRC is a subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc. (BSAH), which, through its various subsidiaries, has a long tradition of supporting the environment and conservation. BSAH companies have been recognized by Keep America Beautiful, Honda of America Manufacturing, Inc., the Environmental Protection Agency, the Conservation Fund, the Environmental Federation of Oklahoma, the Iowa Governor's Office, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the National Geographic/Eastman Kodak Company/Conservation Fund.

About BFS Retail & Commercial Operations, LLC:

BFS Retail & Commercial Operations, LLC (BFRC) is headquartered in Bloomingdale, Ill., and operates more than 2,200 consumer and commercial vehicle service and tire locations across the United States and Canada, including Firestone Complete Auto Care™, TiresPlus ™, ExpertTire ™ and GCR Tire Centers store locations. Credit First National Association and Firestone Complete Fleet Care operations are also part of BFRC. BFRC is a member of the Bridgestone Americas ' family of companies.  

About Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc.:

  Nashville-based Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of the Bridgestone Corporation. BSAH, through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures and markets a wide range of Bridgestone, Firestone and associate brand tires to address the needs of a broad range of customers, including consumers, automotive and commercial vehicle original equipment manufacturers and those in the agricultural, forestry and mining industries. The companies also produce air springs, roofing materials, synthetic rubber and industrial fibers and textiles and operate the world's largest chain of automotive tire and service centers.

About Keep Houston Beautiful:

Keep Houston Beautiful is the city's leading organization in beautification, litter reduction and recycling education. It is the local affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and the d.b.a. of the Houston Clean City Commission, Inc. To volunteer or learn more about Keep Houston Beautiful please visit our website at: www.houstonbeautiful.org .

About Keep America Beautiful, Inc.:

Keep America Beautiful, Inc., established in 1953, is the nation's largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. This national nonprofit forms public-private partnerships and programs that engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community's environment. The Great American Cleanup™ is the organization's signature program that mobilizes millions of volunteers to improve their communities through hands-on participation. For more information, visit www.kab.org.