FALLBROOK – After 500 entries from six local schools for Fallbrook Public Utility District’s (FPUD) annual grease-catcher environmental art contest, the painstaking task of selecting the cream of the crop began.

The top 14 were selected and the schoolchildren who crafted them were recognized at the May board of directors meeting. Fallbrook Street School was awarded the district’s $400 prize for having the greatest number of entries in the contest. Zion Lutheran School won $100 for having the second most.

The contest, open to first- through fifth-graders in Fallbrook, is part of the "Grease – in the Can, Not the Drain!" campaign, which is an effort to inform residents that kitchen grease poured down the drain is a leading cause of local sewer spills. Oils and fat stick to the sewer pipes and clog passageways, which can cause back-ups and sewer spills.

The prizes are incentives for schools to encourage student participation, and go toward the schools’ art programs. The grease cans are currently on display in the FPUD board room; in June they will go on display at Advertisement

[ Berry-Bell and Hall Mortuary ] the Art Campus at Fallbrook.

The 14 young artists were presented certificates and prizes, including gift certificates donated by Wal-Mart.

The decorated grease cans could solve the sewer-spill problem by remaining on kitchen countertops. Parents line the cans with a plastic bag and fill them with cooking grease, tossing the bag in the trash when full.

Students from La Paloma, Live Oak, Fallbrook Street, Zion Lutheran, William H. Frazier and Iowa Street schools participated in the contest.

The winners are:

-First-place: Amanda Smith, fourth grade, Zion Lutheran

-Second-place: Simeon Hixson, second grade, Zion Lutheran

-Third-place: Isaac Lopez, third grade, Fallbrook Street

-Joe Moran, Fallbrook Street

-Isiah Garcia, Fallbrook Street

-Jose Vargas, Fallbrook Street

-Abby Wade, Fallbrook Street

-Teresa Arias, Fallbrook Street

-Melyssa Aaron, Fallbrook Street

-Jose Gonzalez, La Paloma

-Kaia Slattery, Maie Ellis

-Travis Tysor, Zion Lutheran

-Julia Wilson, Zion Lutheran

-Sebastian Rojas, William H. Frazier

FPUD has been selected, for the third year in a row, to receive the Community Cornucopia Award from the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District for this program that is making a difference. FPUD officials have noticed that it has been many months since there was a grease-related spill.