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Volunteers bridge a gap Photo by Bob Pennell Friends of the Bridge patrol volunteer Theresa Erickson walks her son, third-grader Scott Erickson, home through Eagle Point's historic covered bridge. E.P. parents patrol to keep the peace at covered span BY MELISSA MARTIN EAGLE POINT -- Ten-year-old Elisha Rasor had been pestering her mother about walking to school. Finally, in late September, with her mother sick in bed, Elisha got her chance. As Elisha crossed the historic covered bridge over Little Butte Creek to walk the last 100 feet to the schoolyard, she saw something that scared her. "There was a big crowd. A kid had a knife and was telling this younger kid about my age that if he didn't give him his Pepsi, he was going to stab him," she says. The youngster with the Pepsi escaped unharmed and the teenager with the knife was prosecuted by Eagle Point Police. But the young eyewitness's story and her mother's response to it resulted in a parent patrol on the bridge. Mother Joni Rasor helped organize Friends of the Bridge, a group of parents who take shifts standing at the bridge entrances before and after school to enforce the "No smoking" and "No standing" rules. "It's already better than it was," Rasor says. "Even when things are peaceful and bad things aren't happening, the presence of the parents is building a sense of community. We are here to smile at the kids and say, `Good morning.' " The parent patrols are well-equipped. Parents can pick up police radios and cameras from the district office across the street if they want to ensure a quick response from police. Officer Darin May says the rules are in place to keep crowds from forming in the middle of the bridge, preventing children from passing through to school. The smoking rule is also crucial since the wooden bridge is a 77-year-old tinderbox. "The people of Eagle Point worked really hard to get this bridge here as a way for children to get across Little Butte Creek safely. We want to keep it here," May says The covered bridge stood over Antelope Creek until the community raised money to move it to downtown Eagle Point in 1986. It provides a safe alternative to the narrow, busy vehicle bridge that has no sidewalks. "We have a lot of people come to Eagle Point who are interested in covered bridges," says Barbara Hegne, local historian and author. She notes that it's one of four covered bridges in Jackson County. It may be a popular attraction for history buffs, but the covered bridge is a necessity for students. It lies at the crossroads of four schools with a combined enrollment of 2,800 students, from kindergartners to seniors. "I think of it as a place for high school students to eat lunch," says Silas Shand, an Eagle Point High sophomore. "It's between the Little Butte Store and the school. "It's covered and people hang out there to get out of the rain. We've pretty much been moved from place to place." His solution to the bridge problem is for students to act responsibly and show respect to each other. But for now, Friends of the Bridge will continue its parent patrols to "keep the bridge clean and safe for everybody," Rasor says. But at the same time, the parent group is looking into the future. "I think what Friends of the Bridge is doing is asset building," says Theresa Erickson, who's a patrolling parent, a member of the high school site council and a nurse at Providence Medford Medical Center. She plans to survey local youth to find out what the community can do to show its support for teenagers. "My part of this is to get adults to not perceive youth as troublemakers," Erickson says. "We need to see these kids as our future." "Maybe the reason they are hanging out on the bridge is because the community doesn't provide a place for them to go or things for them to do." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA