Former Philomath skate rink transforms into new home of Soft Star Shoes

Former roller rink undergoes transformation into new home for Soft Star Shoes.

This will be the third and last summer construction continues on the old “rainbow building.” By this fall the Corvallis-based Soft Star Shoes expects to move in.

Building owner Alan Ayers is the one-man-show with the big task of remodeling the previously decrepit site that sat vacant for 15 years. Ayers’ prior work includes Corvallis’ Sky High Brewing, the downtown American Dream Pizza, and Big River.

During the process of gutting the former roller rink Ayers was able to save 1,000 square feet of the original skate floor. The flooring was removed in single strips that he will piece back together.

“I’ll have to resand it and refinish it, but it will look pretty good I think,” Ayers said.

The old flooring will become repurposed as the new entry point of the building. Ayers raised the area a few feet above the rest of the building so that customers can view the entire shoemaker workshop as they enter.

Soft Star received a gift from a Philomath woman that will also be on display at the entrance. Lois Phelps donated skate shoes she wore as a high-schooler on the Phil-O-Rink skate team. She was part of “Kids On Wheels,” a skate program for youth in the ‘50s that performed chorus lines, pair skating, russian hops, and the waltz.

“I was very glad to donate to them because that was so much better than sticking them back in the closet,” Phelps said.

Phelps moved to Philomath with her family the same day that WWII was over. The town had about 350 residents at the time. She would catch a ride from her brother Rod to practice, carrying her skates in a metal box adorning a Phil-O-Rink sticker and her name stenciled on it.

“That was the big thing to do,” she recalled. “There wasn’t a lot to do.”

Outside of her fond memories skating, the former Phil-O-Rink building holds a special place in Phelps’ heart. Stan Phelps, who would become her husband, started coming to the rink to court her, she said. They married in 1954 when she was a senior in high school. They went on to have five children.

Phelps’ skate shoes will again meet the floor they once glided on, and together their history will live on in the new home of Soft Star Shoes.

Also landlord to the current building Soft Star occupies in Corvallis, the decision to call the building with the arched roof home was a joint effort from Ayers and Soft Star co-owners Larkin Holavarri and Tricia Salcido.

“We were having a hard time finding a place that felt like home for us,” said Holavarri. “We mentioned the building to him just because it looked like something was there.”

After their suggestion of a possible relocation site, Ayers inspected the building’s structure. He was surprised to find that the framing of the roof was still in good condition. According to Ayers, that was the only reason he felt it could be salvaged.

Holavarri and Salcido trusted his skills in revamping the site.

“We knew Alan was going to make it beautiful because that’s what he does,” said Holavarri.

The wide open space with 20-foot ceilings was attractive to him, Holavarri, and Salcido. Although the roof and the entire perimeter was rotted, Ayers saw potential in the charm of the rafters.

“You can’t find those kind of trusses anymore,” Ayers said. “They look pretty cool.”

While repairing the roof, Ayers found a sign from Timber Structures, the company that built the rafters in the ‘50s. Ayers preserved the thin paper sign behind glass in a wood frame to put back into the building as a token of its history.

As Ayers prepares for the expected October move in, he is now tasked with laying an 11,000- square-foot concrete floor with radiant heat, the most efficient way to heat the high-ceiling structure. However, before he could start, he had to raise the entire foundation two feet. Half the building sat in a flood zone and half did not, so raising it in its entirety solved the problem.

The grand opening is not scheduled until early 2017, but Soft Star will be open for business while making finishing touches.

They do not expect an immediate increase in revenue after their move, but they are eager to gain the work and storage space they lack at their current 5,000-square-foot location. All of their employees — about 15 shoemakers and a customer service team — have agreed to make the move with them.

Philomath school kids plant trees on Arbor Day 2016

Philomath Elementary third-graders hold their newly planted seedlings at the Arbor Day celebration.

On April 28, the Philomath Public Works Department celebrated Arbor Day with 120 local school kids. 

At 1 p.m., a swarm of third grade students marched from Philomath Elementary to the Public Works compound, met by a bus-load of kindergartners from Kings Valley Charter School. The kids were energetic and eager to learn about trees, how to plant them, and how to take care of them. They were excited to get their hands dirty. Each would bring their own tree home.

In lieu of a more traditional Arbor Day celebration involving a photo-op of the mayor with a shovel and a tree, Garry Black, operations supervisor of Public Works, invited Mayor Rocky Sloan to help teach local youth about trees.

Sloan started off the afternoon by reading a proclamation declaring the day an official celebration. He then explained to the young crowd the importance of trees, flowers, and bees. 

Black took over after Sloan and told the kids that a single tree can take one million pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air in its lifetime. This is important, he told them, because breathing and driving cars puts carbon dioxide in the air. 

“We plant trees so we can make sure we can have a nice, livable, breathable environment,” Black said.

In preparation for the event, Black applied for and received a $180 grant from Oregon Community Trees — an organization dedicated to healthy urban forests. With the funds, the city purchased four types of seedlings for the kids to plant: white dogwood, redbud, silver maple, and tulip trees. All are ornamental trees. 

There were four planting stations for kids to gather around as they lined up to take their turn. Bill and Kathy Dunn of Dunn & Co Tree Services each ran a station, volunteering their time and expertise. Black and Lige Weedman, certified city arborist, manned the other two stations. 

Soil and biodegradable pots were donated by The Bark Place, and each child was given a brochure with care instructions to take home to their parents.

The day’s celebration also commemorated 22 years of Philomath being recognized as a Tree City USA. Sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation’s movement to “green up” cities across the nation, Tree Cities must meet four standards of sound urban forestry management: have a tree department, have a community tree ordinance, spend at least $2 per citizen on urban forestry, and host an Arbor Day celebration.

“We are currently tied for twelfth out of 56 Oregon Tree Cities,” said Black. “Salem is the oldest at 39 years on the list.” 

Part of being a Tree City is to maintain a healthy tree canopy ratio. The City of Philomath plants up to 30 trees a year to increase trees in city limits. Such trees help keep rivers and streams cool for fish, provide habitat for wildlife, and assist the city’s sustainability. 

“The benefits of the trees and what they affect are far reaching, like soaking up rain water so we don’t need all the infrastructure to take that water away,” said Kevin Fear, Public Works director.

So far this year 19 trees have been planted.

“Forty percent tree canopy in a city is considered a healthy city,” said Fear. “We are at 36 percent.” 

The Arbor Day celebration is a continuation of the city’s efforts to educate citizens on the environmental impact of trees. After the day’s event the kids went home with new knowledge gained, and more trees to plant.

Philomath third-grader, Seth Wood, said what he learned about trees was that “you wouldn’t survive without them.” Fellow third-grader, Alyson Beckwith, said what she learned is that “they make paper.”

Natalie Muir, kindergartner from Kings Valley, plans to plant her tree in her garden where, she said, she is currently growing grass. Mahayla Benoit, fellow kindergartner, also had an idea of where she was going to plant her tree. 

“I think I’m going to plant it in the middle of our house so when we race we can go around it.”

Colten Hurska, Philomath third-grader, was excited about planting his tree because he likes “climbing trees.” He estimated that his seedling will take about four years before it is ready for him to climb. 

For a first-time event, the department was happy with the turnout and the support of local businesses and volunteers.

“I have an amazing Public Works,” said Mayor Rocky Sloan. “The employees are just fabulous.”

No glitz, no glamor - the reality of being a college student

You know when you watch a college-life movie and everything seems so fun, and everyone is worry-free, and everyone has money and time for adventures? I have yet to find this experience in real life. In fact, most college students have yet to find it either.

Here's what it's really like to be a starved, exhausted, stressed, overworked, underpaid, and sleep deprived college student. Although, I'm not sure it would be a blockbuster.

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You have just moved out and the whole world is at your fingertips! You can do whatever you want, whenever you want, and it's going to be so much fun! Then reality kicks in.

So, you start a change jar for a reserve fund in case of emergencies.

But eating out isn't all that bad because it comes with a bonus — you get a chance to stock up on housewares.

Plus, when you try to cook at home there's always complications.

After a few weeks away from home you start to notice the little things you took for granted.

With trendy fashions and plentiful food becoming something of the past, you must do whatever it takes to make money.

Clearly that's not going to pay the bills, so you use your ingenuity for ways to conserve resources.

Then it hits you! Maybe you can find a way to get people to pay you for being a student...

Okay, back to the drawing board, that's probably not going to work. Maybe you should stop scheming and hit the books. But first, you need some motivation.

But caffeine isn't giving you the same pick-me-up that it used to. The struggle is real.

So you take a break from attempting to study and decide to check your grades.

It's bad news.

You need a backup plan.

Ugh, it's going to be a long night. Maybe there's someone out there that feels your pain.

As the weeks go on, the plight of being a college student is in full effect.

Oh well, you know this isn't going to last forever. You take it one day at a time. Graduation is near...

And this, dear Hollywood, is a more realistic movie plot for college-life.

15 hilariously accurate Tweets for #MyAdviceToTrump

Today a hashtag began trending on Twitter that thousands of people have been waiting for. #MyAdviceToTrump has gone viral, and people have hilarious things to say.

Sure, making fun of people is not socially acceptable—in most cases. However, this man is special, very special. His devotion to shaming, mocking, insulting and bullying just about anyone in his path regardless of color, creed or disability, creates a culture of doing the same. And who better than to use his own techniques on than him.

Thank you America for making me laugh this morning. I imagine as the day progresses things will get much, much funnier (and crazier) with this trending hashtag—10,000 Tweets and counting!

Philomath: Resident wildlife biologist contributes to Obama's new mitigation policy

When President Obama sought a better way to measure and value the impact of development on the nation’s natural resources, he found it in the work of Philomath wildlife biologist Thomas O’Neill.

An area resident for 26 years, O’Neill is founder of Northwest Habitat Institute (NHI), a nonprofit organization committed to conserving native habitats. O’Neill has been a certified wildlife biologist with The Wildlife Society for more than 30 years.

With headquarters in Corvallis, NHI has an 18-year history of habitat evaluation efforts in Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho and New Mexico. What makes NHI unique is its patented scientific accounting system, which appraises habitats and ecosystems for developers and conservationists. It is called CHAP, or Combined Habitat Assessment Protocols.

Developing metrics that can place a value on nature has been O’Neill’s focus for the past 25 years, and has been a meticulous process of compiling data, designing methodology, coding algorithms, and going through scientific peer reviews. CHAP’s patent is the first and only one in the United States for a system of assessing habitat value. 

In a memo last November, titled “Mitigating Impacts on Natural Resources from Development and Encouraging Related Private Investment,” President Obama wrote, “American ingenuity has provided the tools that we need to avoid damage to the most special places in our nation and to find new ways to restore areas that have been degraded.”

Obama ordered a one-year deadline for various agencies to create consistent federal policies to mitigate harmful impacts to natural resources. These agencies included the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Policy changes on mitigating impacts under Obama’s directive will require developers to remain conscious about replacing ecosystems that are destroyed for human use. The memo calls for “net benefit,” which means for every mitigation effort there must be an “uplift” in ecological value on another site to keep the ratio of land-sharing balanced.

“This memorandum will encourage private investment in restoration and public-private partnerships, and help foster opportunities for businesses or nonprofit organizations with relevant expertise to successfully achieve restoration and conservation objectives,” the President wrote.

The nonprofit organizations with relevant expertise to which Obama referred includes NHI.

CHAP works similar to an appraisal done on a home; the structure, contents and property are all assessed to give it a value. In CHAP’s case, however, the appraisal includes all plants, species, and species’ functions that comprise an area’s ecosystem. CHAP considers all possible species in a specific area, based on O’Neill’s decades of research, and makes a list of up to 100 functions each species contributes to the ecosystem as a whole. 

The methods are transparent and aim to eliminate subjectivity in what people “think” the property is worth, according to O’Neill. Instead, CHAP provides a metric of the ecological integrity of the site and a set of protocols to get a baseline condition.

“You have to look at the resource through the eyes and lives of wildlife,” O’Neill said. “Coming from only our perspective, there is too much subjectivity in the value.”

NHI’s efforts restoring, or “uplifting,” habitat sites using CHAP includes work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and a $1 billion restoration project for the Los Angeles River — the biggest homeland budget ever used for an ecological restoration project. 

Such projects have increased CHAP’s visibility, and O’Neill’s work has reached top government decision-makers, including President Obama and his staff. 

It took eight years to get CHAP scheduled for review by the Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for developing and maintaining the nation's water and related environmental resources. Last November O’Neill sat down with Corps staffers. 

“I don’t know what was the driver for Obama to [send out the memo],” O’Neill said. “But, our kick-off meeting with the Corps was on Nov. 2 and the memo came out on Nov. 3.”

Just last month, CHAP was selected to be in the official process, following the National Academy of Sciences review standards. It is currently undergoing its final scientific review.

O’Neill has had several webinars with the Corps since the start of the review and expects the process to take about six months, just in time for Obama’s one-year review deadline, which also falls on Nov. 3.

Secretary of Education compares America's educational system to a caste system

On March 14 the Senate confirmed John B. King Jr. will act as the new Secretary of Education, replacing his predecessor Arne Duncan. With President Obama’s support in King leading the Department of Education, Obama referred to him as “an exceptionally talented educator,” praising his commitment to “preparing every child for success.”

King, who previously worked under Duncan as deputy secretary, comes with a long history in education. Both his parents were public school educators, and he was a high school social studies teacher before co-founding and co-directing Roxbury Preparatory Charter School in Massachusetts.

He would go on to become the commissioner of education for the state of New York. At the time of his appointment he was one of the youngest state education leaders and was the first African-American and Puerto Rican to serve as a New York education commissioner. In that role, he served as chief executive officer of the State Education Department and as president of the University of the State of New York.

In a daring first move as the new Secretary of Education, King called out higher education and its increasing costs, which he says are shutting out those in lower classes from being able continue their education.

As part of his College Opportunity Across America Tour, in a speech delivered to an audience of college presidents, trustees and other campus leaders at the Education Department’s Washington headquarters, he made pointed remarks about academia’s misguided focus comparing America’s educational system to a caste system making mockery of the American dream.

“By your words and actions, what you have proven is that the notion of choosing between providing an excellent education and ensuring equitable access is a false choice,” King said. “Let’s begin by acknowledging that we have a growing crisis in higher education – and it is disproportionately affecting those who need our help the most.”

A recent report released by the White House found that the country’s colleges and universities need to improve access, opportunity and success for low-income students. The report specifically found that efforts to help low-income students who receive financial assistance through Federal Pell Grant Programs differ among similarly situated colleges and universities.

King believes campus leaders need to develop strategies that increase access, affordability and positive outcomes for all students – no matter their zip code. The theme of his tour centers around his concerns about the accessibility of education, not the ability of students.

“The share of young adults who are white and hold a bachelor’s degree totals nearly twice the share of black young adults with a bachelor’s degree,” he said. “By the age of 24, young people from the poorest families are more than seven times less likely to have earned an undergraduate degree than young people from the richest families.”

His concerns about the separation of classes continued.

“Rising college costs are impacting all of us, they’re most challenging for the students we should be most concerned with protecting – those from low- and middle-income families,” he said. “If we don’t find ways to keep a college degree within reach for middle- and lower-class families, our institutions of higher education could end up having the opposite effect – they could become a barrier, not a bridge, to greater prosperity.”

Further statistics King gave included that 72 percent of higher education’s student body comes from the nation’s richest families, whereas only 3 percent of the student body comes from the poorest families. He also said fewer than 50 public four-year institutions enroll more than 40 percent of their students as Pell recipients while just over 100 private nonprofit institutions do the same.

“We need more from our top colleges, and better uses of their multi-billion dollar endowments,” he urged.

As the leading federal education officer, his mission is clear. However, there is still much to do if the U.S. will lead the world in college completion for all students without the burden of an unmanageable debt.

Philomath: Marys Peak True Value opens doors to 20,000-square-foot store

The building has had many faces: Mark’s Market, Sentry, Andy’s, DnD Market, Fresh Choice, Thriftway, and Ray’s. Prior to its time as a grocery store it was used as the high school gym and as a place where dances and carnivals were held. After sitting vacant for over two years, the landmark location on Main Street has been repurposed again. It is officially the new home of Marys Peak True Value.

With the red paint on the front of the building barely dry, the transformation is not yet complete. Owner Troy Muir has cut a hole in the wall separating the old and new retail spaces and is completing the process of moving and organizing inventory while both locations are open. He is finishing preparation for the grand opening slated for the weekend of May 13.

“Saturday is going to be the big day,” Muir said. “Traeger is barbecuing and there will be giveaways.”

Part of the weekend’s celebration will include a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Philomath Chamber. Pepsi will also be on hand providing refreshments.

“I hope everyone can come in and take a look,” he said. “It’s going to be a good event.”

The process of relocating his former 4,500-square-foot facility to an expansive 20,000-square-foot space took Muir about two years. During that time, in addition to running the business, he built three homes, sold his own home, and sold his truck to generate funds for the massive undertaking.

“It’s taught me some patience, and I’ve been working hard,” Muir said. “I’ve given a lot for this.”

By his estimation, the additional retail space will allow him to double his previous inventory. The old bottle return area in the back of the former grocery store now holds lumber, sheetrock, sheet goods, molding, and trim. Muir has also bulked up his selection of sporting goods, camping goods, toys, and work wear.

“This is a chance to expand the categories we were weak in,” he said.

His wife Lisa has been involved with a new section of the store that is geared towards home goods and crafts. With her help, they have increased the selection of greeting cards, kitchen goods, and appliances.

“We’ve got a bunch of new hobby paints, craft paints, and we have the new chalk paints everyone loves,” he said.

The back of the store, near the old coolers, will be a full-service center for key and glass cutting. As one of the only local businesses doing laser cut keys, that portion of the business is in demand and busy, according to Muir.

“We went from a convenience-type hardware store to more of a home center now,” he said. “I think people should be impressed with what we brought in.”

So far, feedback Muir is getting from patrons is positive. Philomath resident Nathan Slocum is one of his happy customers.

“I think it’s a great thing, it’s what we needed,” Slocum said. “Troy Value!”

At this point Muir does not plan to change operating hours, however, he will listen to customers should they want adjusted hours. Muir also hopes to add a few new employees once things settle and they begin full operation in the new location.