Doug Fisher's mission: Keep Hillsboro clean
Staff writer
Anyone traveling around Hillsboro might see a guy on a bicycle picking up cans and any kind of debris on the streets. That guy is Doug Fisher, and his mission is to keep Hillsboro clean and free of litter.
Doug was born and raised on a farm west of Pilsen, the second child of Esther Fisher and the late Lawrence Fisher.
It was on the farm that Doug learned to do several chores.
He helped with the pigs on a hog farm, cleaned out dog houses and helped tear down buildings. He also helped with collecting and cleaning eggs, and did yard work at the family farm and on other neighboring farms.
But Doug's specialty is mowing lawns.
"He was a good worker at home on the farm," Doug's mother Esther said.
After the death of his father, the family moved to town.
According to Esther, Doug was born with a mental handicap. She could not remember the exact name of the doctor's diagnosis or condition that Doug had.
"He can read and talk, but he is slow in his comprehension," Esther said.
Doug attended special education classes in the Hillsboro schools for six years.
From 1976 to 1987, Doug went to Salina to participate in a program where he could acquire the skills to learn to live on his own. Those skills included learning about finances and handling his money, cooking, cleaning, and other life skills necessary to live self-sufficiently, for the most part.
In 1987, Doug moved back to Hillsboro and began living on his own and mowing lawns to support himself.
Both he and his mother were a team in mowing lawns. They had customers for nearly two blocks long, according to Doug and his mother.
Even though he will be 50 in November, Doug said he is still going strong. His mission in Hillsboro is to keep the city clean and free of litter.
"I tell the city about holes in the street or street lights that are out, and I clean up the litter on the street, too," Doug said.
"People drop things out of their cars, and I pick them up," he said.
"I taught them when they were little not to be litter bugs," Esther added.
Doug collects aluminum cans as a source of income as well. Local businesses and individuals save aluminum cans for him. Some of businesses include Christian Destiny, Hillsboro Ford Body Shop, the City Hall staff, and the Hillsboro Star Journal and Marion County Record, to name a few.
"I have people drop them off at my house," Doug said. "One side of the garage is stacked with bags of cans."
He said he also goes through the dumpsters around town to find cans and walks or rides his bike to find some of those "aluminum treasures."
"I find a lot of cans around Tabor College," he said.
When Doug has enough flattened cans collected, he and his mother load up her car and take them to Newton. They drop the cans off at a salvage place to receive cash for them. This particular week during our interview, Doug reported that he had 47 pounds worth of cans and made $15.
He and his mother used to take the cans to Dillons, but Dillons no longer has the recycle cans program.
According to the Fishers, the places that used to take the recyclable cans are no longer doing so.
"It's getting harder and harder to find a place to take Doug's cans," Esther said.
Doug and his mother are members of Strassburg Baptist Church. Both said they enjoy going there.
Another unique quality about Doug is his keen sense of keeping track of dates on the calendar and his watching weather reports religiously.
He is a huge Hillsboro High School and Tabor College sports fan, and he enjoys going to the Marion County Fair.
"My neighbors have been good to me here in Hillsboro," Doug said.
"I hope to live here the rest of my life," he added.
