While on a train headed home from a visit in Montana, longtime coach, Joe Fulton, started to receive the first images of what had happened to the cross-country course that runs through the Philomath School District’s Downing Research Forest.
The school district had decided to move forward with a tree-removal project with fears that the area was unsafe and a serious liability. Several trees had been downed or weakened in a late December 2022 windstorm.
Cross-country tops list of 2023’s top 10 sports stories
Philomath High School’s sports programs could claim another year of success in 2023 with a heavy presence in state tournaments, playoffs and meets. Fourteen Oregon School Activities Association-sanctioned teams competed in the postseason with the Warriors winning two state titles. The school’s female runners had a stellar spring and fall in Eugene with championship squads…
Upon arrival in Philomath, Fulton saw firsthand the results of what the project had done to the course. After going through a range of emotions and meeting with school district administration, a plan to rebuild the course came into focus.
Incredibly, in the span of roughly a month’s time, Fulton announced that the course was going to be ready for Philomath High to host the 38th annual Paul Mariman Invitational in early October.
The Philomath News has chosen the cross-country course’s rebuild as the top story of 2023.
The Downing forest project itself was broken out as a separate issue in our top-10 listing and ranks No. 3. Sitting in the No. 2 position is the Downtown Safety and Streetscape Improvement Project that has impacted Philomath over the past year and continues into 2024.
Following are the Philomath News top 10 stories of the year:
1. The rebuilding of a cross-country course
Philomath High coach Joe Fulton said that when he first saw what remained of Downing forest and his decimated cross-country course, it felt like he was visiting a cemetery.
“I started crying,” Fulton said Aug. 1 while walking the grounds. “I was just dumbfounded.”
The Philomath School District after consulting with a panel of school and forestry officials hired Miller Timber to not only harvest fallen and damaged trees but also to determine what should come out by considering factors such as the forest’s long-term health and what could end up being a financial liability if such operations would need to be repeated on a regular basis.
The end result was shocking to many folks. Beyond the pleasant visuals that the forest provided for campus visitors and those passing by on Chapel Drive, it had served as a vital learning tool for forestry students.
But for the cross-country coach and others associated with the program, it was downright painful. Philomath High’s most successful sport in the school’s history now faced the challenge of rebuilding.
In the following weeks, rebuilding efforts brought the course back to life. Fulton and middle school coach Brian Skaar mapped out a new route, the school’s maintenance facility jumped into action, the city contributed funds, businesses loaned equipment, the cross-country program paid for bark mulch and board member Rick Wells even arranged for free dirt to be hauled to the site.
“It was such an outpouring of support and outrage that the city and the school district just knew something had to be done and done quickly and they did it,” Fulton said in early September while announcing that the Paul Mariman Invitational would go on as planned on Oct. 7 — something that the coach couldn’t imagine only a few weeks earlier.
“I just hope that the school district and School Board will make sure that we’re put on the same stature as all of the fields at the school and our course is protected,” Fulton said. “I’d like to get to the point where, OK, we have a course for the best cross-country program in the state — and we’re going to leave it.”
2. Streetscapes project impacts downtown
Construction noise, dust and debris. Lane closures. Impacts to pedestrian routes and on-street parking. And although businesses remain open, some have been more challenging to access than others depending on the project’s focus in a given week.
The streetscapes construction project in downtown Philomath continued throughout the year.
The Oregon Department of Transportation had launched into the infrastructure components of the lengthy and expensive construction efforts in November 2022. The project covers a stretch of Main and Applegate streets from 14th to Seventh.
The bulk of the project’s work relates to narrowing roads, creating more space for parking, widening sidewalks, installing pedestrian amenities, adding a two-way bicycling route and adding bulb-outs to increase safety.
ODOT hopes to see the project completed by the end of the summer 2024. For now, the infrastructure work continues before efforts get started on the attractive additions, such as repaved roads, benches and landscaping.
3. Downing forest tree-removal project
Following a destructive windstorm in December 2022, Philomath school officials became aware of not only trees that had been downed but several others that were in danger of falling in the 10-acre Downing Research Forest. School Superintendent Susan Halliday brought up the issue at a board meeting in February and mentioned that the area had been closed off to public access.
The previous month, a group that included the superintendent, forestry teacher, school facilities personnel and a retired Starker Forests employee and member of the Natural Resources Advisory Board walked the property to discuss needed action.
The issue appeared to take on more importance in May with School Board Chair Rick Wells saying at the time, “It didn’t sustain much damage on the edges of it but the center of it was just decimated. “What we would like to do as a district with that property right now is unknown. But I feel we should do something with it and a discussion needs to start somewhere as to what we can do with it and what we need to do with it.”
The group tasked with deciding on what to do ultimately decided that a removal and replanting operation would be the best way to go. In July, the district hired Miller Timber to come in and remove damaged and downed trees.
As the operation progressed, community members started to absorb the scope of the project and it created a startling sight for many, including those connected with the cross-country program.
4. Holiday lights parade debuts in Philomath
The city organized the inaugural Philomath Parade of Lights and the event appeared to be a success based on the number of float entries and spectators that lined the streets. For those who love small-town celebrations, the event brought a holiday parade back to the immediate vicinity. Corvallis formerly had a holiday parade but that was last held in 2019.
“When that went away — and even when that was going on — I was like, ‘why don’t we do this in Philomath?’” City Manager Chris Workman said when asked to explain how this event came to be established. “But logistically, we just never took the next step to really start thinking about it early enough in the year.”
Workman connected with Chief of Police Ken Rueben to work out the route and safety components of the operation. In previous years, Rueben had mentioned to Workman the idea of a holiday parade in town.
“There’s a part of me that’s excited to do it this year while Ken is still at the city and will be here to put it on,” Workman said, referring to Rueben’s anticipated retirement in 2024. “It’s a lot of work for the officers to shut down roads and reroute traffic and keep control of things but I’m excited to be doing the Holiday Parade of Lights while Ken is still here — a tip of the hat to him in appreciation of his wanting to do it.”
5. Health-care clinic moves from longtime location
In a fitting move during an open house celebration Oct. 10 at Philomath Family Medicine’s new location on the west edge of town, Dr. Lorri Hendon and retired Drs. David Grube and Dave Cutsforth participated in a ribbon-cutting.
The three individuals have strong connections to the clinic’s former building where patients received their health-care services for nearly 46 years.
“This clinic has been so important to the community,” said Hendon, who has worked for the local clinic since 1995. “I live here, I raised my kids here, I’ve worked here, and to be able to serve families through all the generations and see one generation following another has been an incredible privilege.”
Grube and Cutsforth had been sent to the community through the National Health Service Corps and were in place when the clinic opened in October 1977. They later bought the practice and building, and continued until their retirements in 2012.
Philomath Family Medicine merged with The Corvallis Clinic in 1993. Patients received their health-care services at the old building for just under 46 years.
6. Philomath Frolic and Rodeo looks to future
A few minutes after the final bull rider of the evening had his turn out of the chute, Philomath Frolic and Rodeo announcer Scott Allen’s voice continued to echo through the night air with details about how a tradition had been established to end the rodeo by racing broncs through the arena.
Hundreds of people began to file out of the grandstands with some making a beeline for music and dancing at the Yew Wood Corral while others headed for their vehicles to make the drive home.
In the darkness not far from the front entrance, Philomath Frolic and Rodeo board president Darrell Hinchberger watched the exodus while sitting quietly in a golf cart. He already had his mind on the future and work that needs to get done over the next several months.
“We’re going to focus on the capital funding campaign and with the $1.9 million that the state allocated to us will start that and that gives us the punch that it takes to get going,” Hinchberger said.
Hinchberger as a past vice president and current president on the board of directors has seen the nonprofit organization survive a variety of challenges from uncertainty in 2017 surrounding its future at the rodeo grounds to a pandemic-induced cancellation in 2020 to a fire that took out a section of the grandstands in 2022.
But now, the Frolic’s organizers speak with fervor about what lies on the horizon.
“We’re really excited about it,” Hinchberger said about the Frolic and Rodeo board’s view on the prospect of building a new arena. “We’ve had this dream for the last 10 years.”
7. Millpond Crossing housing development
The Millpond Crossing housing subdivision started 2023 with no activity as part of a stop order that had been issued by the city to correct a grading plan and resolve various other issues. At the time, developer Levi Miller felt the need to re-evaluate the entire project with increased costs becoming a major issue.
Miller had earlier transitioned from his original plan of filling the subdivision completely with single-family homes, receiving approval from the city to incorporate townhomes into the development in an effort to provide affordable, entry-level housing.
Millpond Crossing is being constructed north of Chapel Drive and east of South 15th Street at a former mill site, which operated from 1955 to 1998. Early on in the project, methane was detected. Existing homes were equipped with mitigation features, such as vents and fans to help prevent the accumulation of biogases, and methane alarms. Several other challenges surfaced, including property lot line issues.
In March, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality rescinded recommended precautions for residents, a list that had advised no open flames, use of power tools, wood and charcoal fires, smoking or cutting grass with electric- or gas-powered lawn mowers.
The city’s stop work order was lifted over the summer and construction activities resumed on South 16th Street between Timothy Street and Chapel Drive. As the year ended, construction activities in the location continued.
8. Community remembers veteran Cody Patterson
Philomath High’s No. 7 scored the game’s first touchdown Oct. 6 at Clemens Field. On the team’s second possession, he did it again. Cody Patterson, who was killed 10 years ago in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan while serving with the U.S. Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment, wore No. 7 when he last took the field with Philomath High’s football team in the fall of 2006.
Prior to kickoff, the football program honored Patterson with a special event that included words written by head coach Alex Firth and read by longtime teacher David Dunham, a moment of silence and an Army National Guard soldier standing alone on the field during the PHS band’s playing of the National Anthem.
Chloe Dustman, Cody’s niece, served as an honorary captain wearing a No. 7 jersey and participated in the pregame coin toss. Several other family members were in attendance.
Sisters Nicole Patterson and Letitia Williams said they were pleased to see their brother remembered in such ways.
“It’s huge, it’s important,” Nicole said. “It’s things like this that remind us that it’s not just us keeping his memory alive. … Things like a hometown football game honoring him and a memorial road sign — those are things that remind people that he lived, he breathed, he walked. And it’s not just about the military side of him, too. There was a civilian side.”
9. Council talks at length about ARPA funding
The Philomath City Council takes on a number of discussions while conducting business over the course of a year but one of the issues revisited more than any other involved how to best spend just over $160,000 that remained out of money given to the city through the American Rescue Plan Act.
Beginning in the spring, councilors debated proposals, came up with alternative angles on projects, introduced new ideas and conducted a community survey. During a lengthy discussion at an Aug. 28 meeting, the council approved five projects that included new streetlights, a backup generator for a water pump station, a park’s playground surface, safety improvements near the primary school and a contribution to help restore paths and a cross-country course in the school district’s research forest.
Just a few weeks later, new information on things like cost projections, grant opportunities and project timing reignited the conversation. One councilor brought a new idea to the table that suggested taking a look at implementing photo radar to cut down on speeders through town.
In October, the council updated its funding strategy with a discussion on projects that could potentially be paid for through other sources. In those situations, the free ARPA money could then have more impact among a wider range of projects.
10. Philomath school administrative changes
The Philomath School District had various administrative changes during 2023 that impacted schoolchildren, parents and educators.
In April, it was announced that the district had hired Eric Beasley, former principal in the Corvallis School District for 12 years, to take over as the principal of the Philomath and Blodgett elementary schools effective July 1. Beasley replaced Bryan Traylor, who retired.
“I think when schools are at their best, they really are community places where people gather and everybody gets involved in building a great foundation for kids,” Beasley said when hired.
A couple of months later, the district announced the hiring of Mike Hood as an assistant principal at Philomath High School. A local resident who had spent the previous six years in Lebanon and Corvallis middle schools, Hood replaced outgoing assistant principal and athletic director Tony Matta, who was headed to South Albany High.
Beyond those hires, the biggest change involved the departure of Dan Johnson, who stepped aside after 40 years in education, the last 19 in Philomath. Johnson was behind the launch of Philomath Academy with a passion for providing alternative education.
“It’s near and dear to my heart because not everybody fits the traditional classroom,” Johnson said during Philomath Academy’s June 14 graduation ceremony. “And they need a place to be acknowledged, accepted, educated, cared for, loved. That’s what we do here.”
Prior to moving into the principal’s position, Johnson led the high school’s performing arts program for several years, a run that included back-to-back state championships in band in 2018-19, a state title in choir in 2017 and two national Grammy Signature School Awards.
