Man, 90, pulled from mountain of clutter

When Theresa Liu bought a house in Norton about two years ago, she could most easily explain its location by describing her neighbor.

"You know the guy by the cemetery with all the junk in his yard?" she'd say. "I live next door."

She was referring to Michael Halko, an energetic 90-year-old, known for his unkempt yard and his frequent bicycle runs through town, who found himself trapped in his squalor last week.

After someone called authorities Friday concerned that Halko had not been seen for a couple of days, an ambulance responded.

It took paramedics more than 10 minutes to locate him amid the piles of furniture, boxes, magazines, appliances, and trash that he'd accumulated over several decades.

Only his head was visible.

Halko's son and daughter-in-law arrived, and as they looked on, Norton firefighters formed a 14-person chain to pull the barely conscious and dehydrated Halko out of the mountain of debris. He was sent to Attleboro's Sturdy Memorial Hospital, where he was determined to be in stable condition.

Jim Dinsel, head of the town's Council on Aging for the past 20 years, said it was the most extreme case of self-neglect by a senior he had ever seen.

Yesterday Halko was staying in Attleboro with his son and daughter-in-law, who are trying to determine what to do about his Olympia Road house, which has been condemned by the town.

Diane Halko, his daughter-in-law, said in a brief telephone interview that her father-in-law "is doing all right." She said relatives were aware of the house's condition, but declined to speak further.

Neighbors said Halko had frequent visitors, including relatives who would check on him about once a week. Liu and another neighbor, Nick DelSanto, said the clutter in Halko's yard is hard to miss, but out of respect and deference to his age, they never admonished him to straighten things up.

"He's a nice guy. The last thing I wanted to do was make waves for him," DelSanto said. "I'm not one to tell people how to live their lives."

DelSanto and Liu said their neighbor was a regular sight around town, riding his bike and collecting cans, which he'd take to a supermarket to cash in for groceries.

Olympia Street is mostly single-family houses with neat lawns that surround Norton Common Cemetery.

Halko's home stands in stark contrast. Obscured by trees and brush, layers of trash and junk flow from the edge of the house in the front yard. A car and a truck, covered by tarps and clutter, rest behind a small, metal chair, where Halko would sit and chat with relatives, neighbors and the postal carrier, neighbors said.

Liu said Halko would salvage flower arrangements tossed from the cemetery and restore them for himself and to give as gifts for his neighbors.

"When I first heard the sirens, I was thinking 'Oh, I hope it's not Mike,' " Liu said.

As she heard firefighters breaking glass to get inside, Liu said she asked Halko's son why he didn't just give officials a key.

That was how she learned the house was so cluttered the front door could not be opened.

Norton Fire Chief Richard Gomes said the house was packed "wall-to-wall, and floor-to ceiling, except for the areas that it looked like he had been crawling over. There was no walkable space to get around the house. You had to crawl."

Town authorities condemned the house and ordered Halko and his family to clear it out so that a structural inspection could be done.

Dinsel, who is also director of Norton Human Services, said he reported Halko to authorities as an elder-at-risk, as required by state law, when informed of the conditions of the house.

He said Bristol Elder Services is available to provide meal and housekeeping services to seniors living alone.

Gomes and other area residents said they saw Halko around frequently and would ask him how he was doing. But Halko never gave neighbors any indication that his home was so dangerously cluttered.

"Everybody in town looked out for him," Liu said.

John C. Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.com.