A city, like a person, gets to make a first impression only once. How does Natchez rate, Ren Adams wondered aloud as she talked about one of her passions &045; the appearance of the town where she grew up and to which she returned to live and work. Adams, marketing director at Dunleith Plantation, talks frequently with guests at the bed-and-breakfast inn and restaurant. Comments such as a recent one are disturbing: &uot;Natchez is amazing in history and has tremendous potential; but it looks tired and, in some cases, dirty.&uot;

Tired? Dirty? Adams cringes at the thought. But in chairing a tourism committee for the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce, she has devoted time to figuring out where the city could improve its appearance and what contributes to some of the worst problems.

Litter, neglected empty buildings and streets and walkways needing repair are only some of the major challenges. First, however, the tallest order is to rally people of Natchez to do something about their city’s looks.

Little things matter. &uot;We need to get people who own buildings downtown to beautify the little garden spots in front of their buildings,&uot; Adams said.

That done, the city should make arrangements for trash from downtown businesses to be picked up in the alleys rather than on the curbs.

&uot;Many of the businesses put out trash on Friday for pickup on Monday,&uot; she said. &uot;The trash is out all weekend.&uot;

The trash problem became embarrassingly clear on the weekend when two of the Delta Queen Steamboat Company boats docked at Natchez in late June and brought their passengers into town for the annual Floozie Contest, held for the first time at City Auditorium.

&uot;People were walking up and down the streets, and there were big white trash bags on the curbs. Animals had gotten into some of them,&uot; Adams said. &uot;That is not the way we want people to remember Natchez.&uot;

Adams said city ordinances could take care of many of the problems that have allowed the downtown area to become less appealing &045; empty and dilapidated buildings included.

&uot;Just look at the major eyesores within one square mile of downtown,&uot; she said, naming some of the most unsightly ones all the way from Broadway to Martin Luther King streets.

A couple visiting Natchez from Alabama made this observation, Adams said: &uot;You’d think you’d have strict rules in Natchez about maintaining your property.&uot;

Ask Glenn Haltom, who has worked on state and local beautification committees for decades. As owner with her husband, Bob, of a business on North Commerce Street, she sees daily some of the detractions from an otherwise beautiful historic downtown area.

&uot;Bob is a health, beauty and clean fanatic,&uot; Glenn Haltom said. &uot;We pick up trash all the time on that block.&uot;

As a beautification activist, Glenn Haltom established an anti-litter program in the Natchez schools some 20 years ago.

&uot;The state highway department had a landscape architect who came to the state garden club meetings to do a program on litter,&uot; she said. &uot;I wrote letters to all the schools in Natchez to get them interested in a program. We showed a 15-minute film and gave out litter bags.&uot;

The program involved children from kindergarten through third grade, who picked up the ideas very quickly.

&uot;I had one mother tell me that the family was in a boat on Lake Saint John and someone threw trash into the lake,&uot; Haltom said. A young child in the family who had taken part in the litter campaign at school &uot;made them turn the boat around and find the trash.&uot;

Attention to litter is not only to promote beauty but also health, Haltom said. &uot;Litter is not healthy. And besides, something that is pretty makes you feel good.&uot;