The great Kiwanis highway cleanup

Twice a year - come rain or shine - Sisters Kiwanis Club volunteers conduct a cleanup of Highway 20 along the four miles from the Lazy Z to Sisters/Bend KOA campground. They turn out early in the morning and keep going until the highway shoulders are cleaned of the trash people throw away or that falls from their vehicles.

"We try to get out in the spring, just before rodeo time, and before the snow flies in fall," said Linda Bafford, coordinator of the cleanup.

Last Saturday, 16 members were out for the biannual cleanup, where each team of two takes a mile, parking their vehicle at the half-mile point in their sector and picking up trash in both directions.

"This is so much fun, I can't resist it..." Bob Hennings said, adding with a chuckle, "I'm an honorary member of Kiwanis, and I work for the Forest Service in recreation; that's why I'm so good at it; I do a lot of this in my regular job."

The litter picked up is stored in yellow plastic bags stacked along the highway and then picked up by ODOT.

Kiwanis members like Warren Seaward, who has been volunteering on the highway cleanup for over 10 years, Bill and Mickey Duehren, who have been at it for over six years, Bob Wollard, Gary Frazee, Earl Armbruster, Doug Roberts, Jeff McDonald and Tom Worcester also keep at it, year after year.

In spite of the fact that Oregon has a pretty stiff sentence for littering (Class-A misdemeanor, with a fine not exceeding $6,250 or imprisonment not exceeding one year or both), highways are trashed daily.

And volunteers like the Sisters Kiwanis clean up the mess.