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Giving dogs a place to play photo by Andrew Mariman By JONEL ALECCIA Buster the Labrador didn't seem to mind the condition of Medford's dog park Sunday, but you couldn't say the same about his owner. Kristin McEachern took one look at ankle-high weeds, dry grass and cracked earth and winced. "It's been four weeks since we were here last, but it looks really awful," she said. "It's kind of like a little run-down." News that a Medford dog-lover is leading an effort to improve the park, including a fund-raiser for a sprinkler system, was more than welcome to the Central Point woman who drives miles to give her pup a place to play. "He loves to run," said McEachern, 31, as her dog raced across the field. "From the looks of things, it's got to get better." And it will, if David Painter gets his way. Painter, 39, has spent the past 18 months pushing to spruce up the 2-acre park at the corner of Barnett Road and Highland Avenue. He and group of about 20 dedicated dog-lovers already have erected a safety gate, set up a covered picnic table and put in a packed path where owners and animals can stroll. "When we got there, there was basically a fence and a field," he said. Medford's only leash-free park, which opened in 1998, now attracts 100 dogs on a busy day. Painter admits it's still a pretty scraggly site, especially when heat bakes the hard clay, creating ideal conditions for star thistle and hazardous cracks in the earth. "The park's not really safe right now," he said. "Some of the cracks are a foot deep and dogs can fall in or stumble." The solution, he says, is a sprinkler system that will soften the earth and eliminate the drought-loving star thistle. Donors have already contributed $700 of the estimated $2,000 needed for a portable sprinkler system. Painter is launching a campaign now to raise the rest. And, by the way, he could use a volunteer trencher when the time comes, as well. "This is the dream, to get the sprinkler system," he said. That would make the park more attractive to Bear, Painter's 8-year-old Chow-shepherd mix and the more than 19,000 other dogs licensed in Jackson County. Eventually, the dogs and their owners will have to relinquish the site for construction of a planned community building and public pool, said Greg Jones, director of Medford Parks and Recreation Department. The city allowed creation of the dog park beginning in 1997 with the understanding that it was only temporary. The park has been a volunteer effort from its beginning: A high school girl, Michelle Anderson, who graduates this year from St. Mary's School, coordinated the planning and fund-raising that created the park. When the time comes, the dog park likely will be moved to a site near the Cottage Street bridge, fencing, sprinkler system and all. It will be an extension of Bear Creek Park offering perhaps 3 acres of space for dogs to play, complete with parking, lighting and separate areas for small and large dogs. That's still a dream, said Painter. But a few more donations toward the sprinkler system could make the existing site a little nicer for Buster, Bear and their owners. "It's been a very positive thing," he said. "Nothing to me is more gleeful than seeing happy dogs and people." Donations for improvements should be directed toward Medford City Dog Park, Attention Anne, City Hall - Lausmann Annex, 200 S. Ivy St., Room 140, Medford, OR 97501. Reach Painter at 608-0494 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.