Package drive honors fallen soldier

Photo by Nicole Patterson

The family of fallen Army Ranger SPC Cody Patterson would like to thank the community for their unwavering support in another successful package drive sending goods to soldiers overseas.

July 24-26 marked the fourth package drive since the Oct. 6, 2013 death of Philomath-born Patterson, when he was killed in action in Afghanistan. The Patterson family has since started the Cody Patterson Memorial Fund and sponsored package drives for his fellow soldiers.

“We think this was our best drive yet,” said Nicole Patterson, sister to Cody. “These were really high quality boxes and we were really able to focus on quality versus quantity.”

A few hundred Benton County residents came to support the cause at the Safeway on Philomath Blvd. last month. Each had items they felt could brighten the day of the men and women stationed overseas, bringing them the comforts of home.

Cody’s immediate family—including four sisters, two brothers, mom and grandmom—organized the drive and manned the booth, along with extended family and friends.

In total they put together 79 packages for soldiers in Cody’s battalion and to those in other battalions upon specific request with a provided APO address. Packages included favorites such as beef jerky, energy drinks, trail mix, items for s’mores, magazines, books, and movies.

This time around the family added a twist to the packages enclosing some fun for the soldiers.

“One was a ‘wild card box’ which had all the things for beer pong. They can’t have alcohol so we put Starbucks java shots in for them to play with,” Nicole said.

The family plans on continuing the drives annually.

“As long as we have troops overseas we’ll keep sending them packages,” she said.

Holding the package drives is a way the family has decided to continue honoring Cody’s legacy. He loved getting packages sent to him during the course of his two deployments.

“One of his favorite things was the chocolate Yoo-hoo drink. We sent some of them to the guys in his battalion that specifically asked for them because it was a Cody-favorite,” Nicole said.

Each package costs about $16 to send, and all packages were paid for by cash donations to his memorial fund.

In the past few weeks the family has received thanks from soldiers receiving the gifts. One soldier, Max, who was a close friend to Cody and serves as a Ranger in the same battalion sent his gratitude.

“They are perfect. They guys love them. I can’t express how thankful we are for them and your support.”

"Plant a row" program feeds families

As summer comes to an end and gardeners are preparing their fall crops, some are adding an extra row of plants to help fight hunger. Elementary schoolers in Albany are even getting involved.

Oregon Food Bank’s “plant a row” program gets gardeners, farms and nurseries alike involved in providing fresh produce to low income families. OSU Extension Service, an educational outreach program with an office in Tangent, supports the “plant a row” program.

Nutrition educator Iris Carrasco works in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for community and family health at OSU’s Extension Service. In partnership with Sunrise Elementary in Albany, Carrasco has managed the “plant a row” project in the school’s quarter-acre garden.

For the last five years the kids have had the opportunity to grow fruits and vegetables, journal their plants’ growth, and learn from master gardeners. Their garden club meets with Carrasco once a week year-round, educating them on the value of fresh produce and healthy eating habits.

“The principal was highly motivated to get the school in a healthy state for the kids,” Carrasco said. “Making a healthy decision was an easy decision.”

Of course, the kids love the opportunity to get their hands dirty too.

“It’s the most popular club at school so we have to switch the kids out every 10 weeks,” Carrasco said.

The garden is open to community members who help tend it, giving them and the kids first pick of produce to take home to their families. Much of what is grown is also used seasonally in the school cafeteria.

“We’re stressing to eat more vegetables and fruits,” Carrasco said. “That happens a lot easier when the kids are involved with the growing of their fruits and vegetables.”

Produce not used is donated to FISH of Albany, a non-profit organization providing care packages to an estimated 30,000 underprivileged people in the surrounding area annually. FISH also receives other food donations from local farmers.

“Very little of it spoils. We get rid of it as quick as it comes in,” said Linda Baker, representative of FISH.

The garden at Sunrise Elementary is supported by local businesses that donate to help sustain the program. Tom Krupicka, owner of Tom’s Garden Center in Albany, donates soil to Sunrise Elementary and several other schools in Linn County.

“Both my wife and I believe in supporting the kids and helping them in their education in any way we can,” he said. “It’s just the right thing to do to help the community, and kids are the future of that.”

Casteen Family Farms in Lebanon is one of several local businesses that donates seeds and starts for the garden.

“We grow whatever is donated to us, and whatever we grow is donated to the community,” Carrasco said.

This summer the Sunrise garden club grew peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, raspberries, and strawberries.

As the season changes, the kids will be busy with a new round of crops for the fall, and  community members will benefit from the fruits of their labor making a healthier community all around.

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Did you know...

FISH of Albany serves an estimated 30,000 Linn County residents each year.

This year, Linn Benton Food Share has already distributed 1.4 million pounds of food to over 34,000 households in Linn County.

Last year, Oregon Food Bank distributed 44.2 million pounds of food to hunger-relief agencies.

To donate you can contact FISH of Albany, Linn Benton Food Share in Corvallis or Oregon Food Bank in Portland.

Lebanon Dog Park Needs Help

Dog owners in Lebanon are in need of an off-leash dog park for their four-legged companions.

In August 2010 a non-profit group calling themselves “Friends of the Bark Park” lobbied for a designated dog area in Lebanon. At the time, resident Lynn Martin was joined by over 100 supporters of the park. Martin teamed up with the city to scout out an acceptable location, deciding on a lot off Tennessee Road.

The property has an existing one mile trail for people to walk their dogs by the river—on leash. The idea was to add an off-leash dog area to the lot, but the process has stalled.

“The development plan is to create a dog park on that section of property, but we haven’t gotten to it yet,” said Jason Williams,city maintenance department director.

When communal support was pushing the dog park project forward, Martin and her group planned on fencing 3.3 acres for large dogs and a smaller area about 80 by 80 feet for small dogs. At the time, the city agreed to post designated signs, including a kiosk with rules for the park. However, plans came to a halt as the project got pushed further down the priority list.

“Of course it all ties into budget and manpower,” Williams said. “It all comes down to timing.”

An off-leash area also brings safety concerns to the city for both human and canine residents. All of Lebanon’s parks currently require dogs on leashes according to Williams. Unfortunately a few pooches, or owners, with bad behavior can impact the freedom of those capable of playing nice.

“We’ve had issues with dogs attacking each other, joggers, hikers, or people just walking,” Williams said. “For every one of those there’s 1,000 dogs that don’t give us a problem.”

Residents may be familiar with a piece of fenced property that resembles a dog park on S. Main and Vaughan streets. Although some thought it to be a city sponsored area, Williams confirmed the property is privately owned. Until recently it was used as a pseudo dog park until the owner locked it.

“I’m not positive but I would say a good educated guess from what I know is that they were tired of picking up dog poop,” he said.

The private property sits at a good location in town for urban dogs to have a chance to run, but as of now that is no longer an option.

With no off-leash area, some dog guardians allow their dogs to run at large regardless.

Frank Stevenson, chief of police, said July is the busiest month for dog at-large calls and they have responded to several this summer. But, he is optimistic the city and its residents can responsibly create an area where dogs can run free.

“I think the city of Lebanon has made some positive strides for a dog park area,” he said.

“Friends of the Bark Park” has lost their voice after Martin’s departure from the area, and Williams encourages the community to pick up where they left off in developing the Tennessee Road property. With pressure from the community, the dog park project may move higher up the priority list.

“They had some pretty good momentum going for a while and we’d be happy to get something going again,” he said. “The best way to get anything done is public involvement.”

The skeletons in Avery Park's closet

Photo provided by Mary Avery Garrison

Corvallis may have a buried secret over half a century old involving two captive bears at the Avery Park Menagerie. 

The park was a much different place in the 1950s. Gone is the fighter jet that used to be on display and the mini zoo with the duck pond, deer pen, monkey cages, and kinkajou - a rainforest mammal in the racoon family. There were many more trees back then, and the park was a summertime hotspot for families to spend the day outdoors under the canopy. 

Two of the most controversial residents in the menagerie were Christy and Patty - two black bear cubs delivered to the zoo in 1954, as announced on the front page of the Benton County Herald on June 3. The cubs lived in a pit not far from where the old custodian’s house stood. 

Their pit had no vegetation and limited structures to engage them in play. By many accounts of locals who observed them, the bears had a dismal existence. 

Rocky Lange was born in Albany in 1949 and first visited the park when he was 5 years old.

“As I recall, they were in a sunken habitat with a high red cyclone-type fence around it. In the center was another concrete rise with a wooden log,” he said.

Lange remembers spending the day with his family in the park when his dad treated them to barbecued burgers and soda. His memory of the food and fun is fond, but his memory of the bears is anything but.

“These poor animals were just lazy looking, sitting up and looking up to anyone that would give them food. At the time there was so much garbage that people had thrown at them it was crazy,” he said.

Jackie Myers moved to Corvallis with her family in 1946. Her recollection of the bears’ living conditions are similar to Lange’s, and in August 2011 she wrote an editorial published by the Corvallis Gazette-Times titled “As I see it: Memory of Avery Park bears in a pit still disturbing.”

“Even as a child, I felt empathy for those poor animals as they paced around their small enclosure where people would throw food down into the pit,” she wrote.

Instead of a positive experience seeing the bears, both former visitors can’t escape the memory of their stench.

“It was sad to see them, even for a little kid. The area they were in smelled to high-heaven all the time,” Lange said.

As the bears got older and their domain became hard for many to palate, unruly residents also became a concern. The Gazette-Times reported people sneaking into the pit at night, and longtime residents recall hearing of vandals shooting arrows at them. 

In the late ‘50s park management decided the bears had to go. A brief published in the Gazette-Times read, “BIG PROBLEM still confronting city is where to get rid of two grown bears at Avery Park … City has tried to sell ’em or give ’em away but hasn’t found any takers.” 

What ended up happening to the bears seems to be a well-kept secret, and the murmurs of their eventual demise still linger around town.

There are two scenarios rumored about their disappearance from the park. Both of them involve the shooting death of the bears. What is unclear is if park officials or vandals pulled the trigger — if the shootings happened at all.

“I sort of recall that after many years in the pit the bears were put down, and the pit became their final resting place,” wrote Myers.

Lange remembers hearing a similar story. 

Jude Geist, park supervisor since 2012, was unable to confirm what happened to them. The zoo closed in 1972 and most references he found were in regards to the disbursement of wildlife. Although it listed some of the birds, deer and the kinkajou, there is no mention of Christy and Patty.

“I looked through my supervisor files regarding the zoom, but there are only three references and none about bears,” said Geist. 

Mary Gallagher, historian for Benton County, did find records of the bears, but she too is not clear on what happened to them.

“Everyone who was around here in the late ’50s and early ’60s will remember them,” said Gallagher. “I just don’t know about their end — that part is questionable.”

If the brief published by the Gazette-Times referencing the “big problem” in relocating them is any indication, it’s plausible that the rumors may not be rumors at all, and in fact, someone did take the “problem” into their own hands.

Although neither Gallagher or Geist were able to confirm either way, one thing’s for sure: there is no found record that the bears left the park. Geist confirmed the pits were buried, so if the stories are true, Avery Park may have two skeletons just feet below the lawns seen today.

Lebanon seeks funds for community garden

A graphic of the conceptual design.

LEBANON—plans for the construction of a new community park are underway. The Community Garden at Porter Park will sit on 1.46 acres on the corner of Russell Drive and Porter Street. 

Park plans were presented to the City Council on July 22, and a motion was made and accepted to  begin securing funding for the project. City of Lebanon Maintenance Manager Jason Williams confirmed the city has set aside just over $100,000 for the construction of the new park. 

The city applied for an additional $15,000 grant on Monday, Aug. 3, from the Healthy Eating Active Living campaign, an entity with a mission to improve physical activity and healthy food opportunities in U.S. cities.

“If we get the grant we’ll get the construction plans designed and built; we have conceptual plans now,” Williams said. “Regardless if we get it, we’ll start in the fall.”

Community Garden at Porter Park will have an emphasis on residents learning tips for gardening and will give them opportunity to rent their own garden beds. The park will also have a communal garden section in which food grown will be maintained by staff and free for residents to harvest.

Master Gardener Sheryl Casteen has signed on to manage the community garden portion of the park for its first year. Casteen will oversee staff and volunteers on hand to assist residents with planting, maintaining and harvesting their crops. 

“There are several master gardeners, residents of Lebanon, that will be assisting with oversight, plant problems and training. The master gardeners will supply seeds to the renters, teach classes, and work on the ‘gift garden’ - that is the area outside the community garden plots that will have free produce for the public,” Casteen said.

Casteen has been the momentum behind the project and will set the park up for success with a team of locals committed to a healthy park that promotes healthy living.

“We will form a governing group of renters to maintain the rules and regulations that will be issued when each person rents a plot,” she said.

Williams will continue to work with Casteen as planning continues.

“This is something [Casteen] spearheaded,” he said. “She did a great job and put a lot of time and effort into it. We’re happy to have her aboard.”

Williams is confident news of whether the grant was approved will come quickly.

Bringing the buzz to your backyard

The laughter, the screeching and all the commotion that summer brings to yards can hide a frenzy of buzzing by nature’s miracle worker - bees.

Responsible for pollinating an estimated third of all crops, bees generate up to $15 billion in revenue a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. On top of their economic value they contribute a priceless service in helping the ecosystem thrive.

With the expansion of cities and landscape claimed for mankind, bees are facing human induced obstacles on their quest for nectar and pollen. Bee friendly gardens, no matter how big or small, can assist these invaluable creatures and double as a floral showcase pleasing humans and insects alike.

“Pollinators love flowers, so you look for flowers that bloom early in the spring that bloom through the fall,” said Master Gardener Sheryl Casteen.

Starting with daffodils and fruit trees in early spring, to summer bloomers such as dahlias and zinnias, gardens can become a mosaic of eye-catching color for both you and bees. Casteen suggests planting flowers that expose where pollen is stored such as daisies, which make it easier for bees to collect pollen.

Although honey bees get most of the pollination credit, they have a powerful pollinating partner that resembles a small blue fly. Casteen recommends that mason bees be welcomed to any garden.

“The mason bee does 20 times the work than honey bees,” she said.

Mason bees will visit an estimated 1,000 blooms a day and a foraging female can be as effective as 100 honey bees, according to the American Beekeeping Federation. Because the mason bee flies in colder and wetter weather than the honey bee, they give vegetables and fruits a head start in the spring.

While honey bees fly up to five miles from the hive and require up to an acre of pasture to forage, the mason bee does all their foraging within 400 feet of their home. Placing a mason bee home in your garden will enhance your blooms because they will stay close to home, stimulating your plant productivity.

Mason bees lay their eggs in tunnels dug by grubs or carved by woodpeckers. Unable to make their own, they find abandoned areas that fit their shape criteria, including hollowed reefs, and pack their eggs one after another in a tubelike fashion. Each egg is cushioned by pollen and sealed by mud creating a capsule for each, giving them their name “mason.” Their young will emerge and pollinate your garden each spring.

Gentle by nature, both honey and mason bees rarely sting unless provoked. Mason bees produce no honey like their counterpart and thus their homes require little care. They are also immune to the deadly varroa mite which is largely responsible for the decline of the honey bee.

The mason bee is native to North America, unlike the honey bee which is native to Europe, but despite their different origins the two have learned to coexist and are not competitive when foraging. A healthy garden can have both species living happily alongside the other.

Steve Oda, president of the Linn County Beekeepers Association, has been hosting honey bees for seven years and has eight hives. He set up his hives when he noticed neighborhood fruit trees were not producing well.

When introducing his hives he visited his neighbors and educated them on how they would help the neighborhood. He wanted to teach their importance to ensure people wouldn’t be unwelcoming or afraid of his bees.

“People don’t distinguish between honey bees and yellow jackets,” said Oda. “I think people are now more accepting of what my bees have done for the neighborhood.”

Since his bees have been at work, the lackluster fruit trees he once observed are more fruitful than ever. Some of his neighbors have joined in support and have started to mow their lawns less, giving chance for wildflower growth. Others have started to leave sections of their property untouched, letting native blooms like dandelions and queen anne’s lace for the bees.

“Someone who wants a weed-free lawn will not be helpful to bees,” he cautioned.

Although certain “weeds” can be invasive to decorative areas, healthy bees need a variety of flowers and plants to consume, just as humans need different food groups. With care in designing your garden, your yard can become an oasis for bees, and the price they pay for residence comes in the form of plentiful fruits and vegetables on your table.