Boats decorated with American flags and banners protesting the incinerator to be placed at Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge set the mood for a regatta Saturday which environmentalists say was organized to educate the public on dangers of the structure.

Environmentalists said the protest had a good showing of people, but the main emphasis was the quality of the regatta not the number of people who showed up.

The most important thing is to get the message across. We don’t want this incinerator in the community. We place emphasis on quality of accomplishment, not the people there, Rose Rowell of the Southern Coalition of Protecting the Environment, said.

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Rowell said despite the quality of the rally, she wishes more people had attended.

There were so many things going on yesterday, it was hard to bring people out, Rowell said. I sincerely feel that more people should have supported the rally against the incinerator.

Nothing is as important as the air we breath. We don’t want to contaminate it with dioxins that could cause us illness we wouldn’t have.

Holly Harris, an SIUC Student Environment Center representative, said the regatta had around 20-35 people in attendance, with most participants riding in the regatta boats.

I think it was effective to the people that passed by. As far as public education goes, hopefully it was effective, Harris said.

Richard Whitney, of the SIUC National Lawyers Guild, said the regatta was successful in making people aware of the incinerator.

I think the protest got the issue in front of people. I didn’t expect it to cause the EPA to change its mind. It was more for people to become informed and start thinking about it, Whitney said.

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There was a nice mix of people from the University and the community that came together for this people with different background sharing a common cause to stop the incinerator.

Rowell said she hoped the regatta informed the public and will get them to express their opinion on the incinerator.

We’re trying to get people to speak out, Rowell said. Most think it’s a done deal and they can’t do anything. That’s not true.