Bette Midler was presented with the Long Island State Parks' Seventh Annual Master Builder Award on April 16 at the Carlyle on the Green at Bethpage State Park. New York State Parks Commissioner Bernadette Castro made the presentation.

Ms. Midler, noted singer, actress and environmentalist had a great story to tell to the hamlet of Oyster Bay. Ms. Midler is best known in New York in her private persona of being someone willing to pick up litter. She said on Friday evening that while walking with rock and roll star Mick Jagger in New York City she picked up a newspaper laying on the street and put it into a trash can. "I was compelled," she said.

Ms. Midler said she grew up on Oahu, Hawaii where the people loved their island. "It was so pristine you never saw gum wrappers or cigarette butts on the ground." When she came to the mainland in California, she experienced "culture shock." "I just didn't get it," she said.

The Divine Miss M. came to New York in 1976 after experiencing an earthquake in Los Angeles. Here she saw parks and streets with mounds of garbage. She was stunned and volunteered to help. She has been instrumental in turning around Fort Tryon Park which surrounds the Cloisters. She said the Rockefellers bought the park and the Pallisades across the Hudson River to maintain the view. Working with Ms. Castro, Ms. Midler has received grants from NYS Governor George Pataki for her New York Preservation projects: restoring parks.

The moral for Oyster Bay is that bending down to pick up trash is a praiseworthy thing. Look what it has done for the diva. It can do the same thing for you and for the hamlet of Oyster Bay.