If you frequent Mohouli Street between Komohana Street and Kaumana Drive, you’ve surely seen Charlie Walters.
More than 6 feet tall, the Hilo resident usually is armed with a trash grabber, take-out bags and a trusty pair of headphones. Rain or shine, about 4:30 p.m. most afternoons, the 55-year-old Walters can be seen hard at work — carefully combing the 2 1/2-mile stretch of road picking up trash.
Walters doesn’t have any particular motive. His doctor encourages him to get exercise, but mostly he said he enjoys keeping the area clean and the sense of accomplishment from completing the task.
“It sounds weird, but I get a lot of satisfaction when I drive away and see that it’s clean again,” Walters said Thursday evening as he combed the Mohouli shoulder with cars whizzing by. “It’s getting it clean and being able to take pride. (Knowing) at least this little section of road is clean. I get satisfaction in that.”
Walters has been picking up trash in the area for about 12 years. He started in his own neighborhood, but about four years ago, he began cleaning Mohouli, which he said is more heavily frequented and contains more rubbish. The process takes about an hour. He gets the job done while listening to his favorite blues tunes, and humming along quietly, as he explained jokingly, so that passing bike riders don’t catch remnants of him singing.
Through the years, he’s seen just about everything. Most commonly he collects empty plastic bottles, food containers, cigarette butts and trash that’s flown loose from moving vehicles.
But he also sees sanitary items, used cotton swabs, even personal floss picks — “I can’t believe how many people drive around and throw those out the window,” he said with a laugh.
He’s had some big finds, too. Once he found an iPhone in pristine condition. He returned it to the cellphone carrier store where it found its rightful owner. He also once found a commemorative silver dollar, which he also attempted to return through Craigslist.
Walters has never asked for recognition. But longtime Hilo resident Takao Shikuma, who lives near the extension, sent the Tribune-Herald a letter earlier this month asking for the longstanding volunteer to be recognized. Shikuma’s wife, Elaine, said Friday they’ve noticed his efforts for years.
“He’s just so pleasant,” Elaine Shikuma said. “It’s his involvement trying to beautify the areas. He should get that recognition for that. He’s always doing his job.”
Occasionally cars driving by will honk in support, Walters said, or other pedestrians stop to chat and thank him. Among them, is Mayor-elect Harry Kim, who regularly bikes along the extension and always stops to extend gratitude, he said. When contacted by the Tribune-Herald on Friday, Kim said he’d been wanting to find a way to acknowledge Walters for a while.
“I’m telling you he’s such a special guy,” Kim said Friday. “He’s such a person of warmth and friendliness and that’s why I make a point to talk to him just to say, ‘Thank you.’ He’s just such a super person.”
Walters said he hopes his efforts encourage people to litter less. He operates by a theory called the “broken windows theory” — the idea that, if a window is left unrepaired, those walking by will assume no one cares.
“My thought is, if there’s rubbish all over the road, people will think nothing of throwing another piece out,” Walters said.
“But if they see it pristine, hopefully they look and say, ‘Oh, I don’t want to be the first guy to throw a piece of rubbish out there.’ So, then maybe they don’t throw it.”
