Highway 130 cleanup set

By COLIN M. STEWART

Tribune-Herald Staff Writer

Community organizations are looking to enlist more support in their fight to keep Puna’s roadways litter free.

On Saturday morning, members of various civic groups will gather along Highway 130 between Keaau and Pahoa from 9-11 a.m. to participate in an Adopt-a-Highway cleanup project that organizers hope will become an annual event.

“We’re really trying to bridge the gap between the various service groups and the police department,” said Puna Community Policing Officer Sandor Finkey, who helped to organize the event in coordination with the Hawaii Police Department and the Department of Transportation’s State Highways Division. “We wanted a day when everyone could come out and clean the highway. And we’ll be there to assist in controlling traffic.

“We’re a part of the community,” he added, in explaining why the police are participating. “The majority of officers out here, we and our families drive these roads every day, and we want to make sure they’re clean and safe.”

One area along Highway 130 that has seen more than its fair share of litter is the mile or so of roadside on either side of the Keaau waste transfer station. Residents hauling garbage to the dump often aren’t successful in securing their loads, and will inadvertently lose garbage bags from the backs of their vehicles as they approach, Finkey said.

Starr Yamada knows all about that stretch of road. As an employee at the Keaau Humane Society shelter, she and her co-workers sit smack in the middle of it all day long.

“We call it the Dirty Mile,” she said with a laugh. “It was previously unassigned (by Adopt-a-Highway). I guess nobody wanted it.”

Yamada and about 15 other employees at the Humane Society, and their family members, have unofficially cared for that stretch of road for some time now, she said. But on Saturday, they will be joining with other civic groups, and individuals, to clean the highway as the official adopters of the 1-mile stretch of road.

“I actually like cleaning the road, and I think more people should do that,” she said. “I know the county personnel, and I know they work hard, but they can’t keep it clean all the time.”

Adopt-a-Highway requires that adopters clean their selected area at least four times a year, Yamada added, but the Humane Society in Keaau is going to shoot for monthly cleanups to keep the Dirty Mile under control.

“Really, we try to keep it clean during the day in general,” she said.

Steve Utter, of Utter Electronics, is the official adopter of the Mile 8 stretch of Highway 130, and he’s been looking after it for going on 15 years. He, too, makes a daily effort to clean up litter, not just on his stretch of the highway, but wherever he happens to be.

“I’ve always been environmentally sensitive,” he said. “And I’m out there once or twice a week. And since I travel that stretch quite frequently, I’ll stop and spend a half hour picking stuff up if I see something.”

Utter added that often he tries to take a preventative approach, picking up bags of garbage before lawn mowers can chop them up into hundreds of hard-to-pick-up small pieces, or before teenagers in offroad vehicles drive over them, testing out their “big wheels,” he said.

Utter said he believes keeping the roadways clean sends a clear message to neighbors, visitors, and even thieves.

Having a clean neighborhood “is a deterrent to crime,” he said.

“If you see a road that’s all abandoned cars and garbage bags, you think ‘Hey, nobody cares about anything around here, let’s go ahead and rob it,’” he said. “But if it’s immaculate, people realize there are people that care here. That’s the perception, and we agree with it. It’s a good sign for the community.”

Tourists will also appreciate the community’s cleanliness, and that can translate to more tourism dollars being spent here.

“If a Jack’s Tour bus, with 100 people traveling down the highway, if they see a bunch of trash, it leaves a bad impression,” he said. “Maybe it only has an impact of .01 percent, but hey, that probably calculates out to a couple million dollars a year.”

Among the individuals and organizations that have shown interest in participating in Saturday’s cleanup are the Men of Pa‘a, the Sunshine Rotary Club of Pahoa, the Puna Lions, the Humane Society, and Utter. For more information, or to get involved with future cleanup projects, contact Finkey at 965-2716. Or, call the Department of Transportation’s State Highways Maintenance Division at 933-8878.

Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.