By MARK FREEMAN
Mail Tribune

CENTRAL POINT — Richard Anderson knows the potential that lies in the two Expo ponds now tucked away from most public access by overgrown thickets and earthen berms.

A road project foreman by trade with a passion for helping the physically less-abled, Anderson envisions concrete pathways around the ponds, easy wheelchair access and good bathrooms that don’t stink.

In his mind’s eye, there’s also a fishing pier anyone can use, picnic tables with wheelchair spots and dozens of people of all ages and physical abilities enjoying themselves fishing in ponds that now are inaccessible to them.

It’s nothing a man, his bulldozers and several dozen of his concrete and carpentry friends couldn’t make reality by volunteering over a series of Saturdays.

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"Give me the go-ahead, and I’ve already lined out workers in the concrete field all willing to help," says Anderson, 51, of Sams Valley.

"I tell people, ‘It’s just dirt,’" Anderson says. "We know dirt. We deal with dirt every day."

The dirt on Anderson and others within the Disabilities Recreation Project is that this group of Rogue Valley über-volunteers has a track record for creating top-drawer fishing access facilities for pennies on the dollar.

After successes in creating fishing access for disabled and senior anglers at Howard Prairie and Emigrant lakes, the Disabilities Recreation Project now has turned its sights and bulldozers on the little-used Jackson County Expo Ponds near Central Point.

"Our plan is to make the Expo Ponds a showcase for Jackson County," Anderson says.

Project organizers plan to create concrete walkways around portions of two ponds near the intersection of Upton and Peninger roads as well as build picnic facilities and bathrooms.

A concrete pier is planned for one of the ponds, so that anyone, from wheelchair anglers to those with walkers, can gain easy access.

And between the ponds, project organizers plan to build a concrete fly-casting pond that could mine the growing sport of competitive fly-casting tournaments.

"This all seems like a natural to us," says Roger King, a political activist and one of the DRP’s board members. "What better place for people to come for a casting tournament than the Rogue Valley? I think this will be phenomenal."

The proposal has caught the eye of the Jackson County Fair Board, which owns and manages the ponds.

Fair Director Chris Borovansky says the board plans to revamp its master plan later this year and he expects the ponds project and casting pool will become part of it.

"I think it’s a good idea and it would be a great addition," Borovansky says. "These guys have a track record of doing good projects."

King says the Expo project, which could cost as much as $2 million, will get its fund-raising kick-off Saturday with an invitation-only catered barbecue at Emigrant Lake. The project also will be featured on the group’s Web site at www.drpinc.org.

Anderson expects the project to come in well under King’s price tag.

"My goal is to get it done with just 10 percent (cash)," Anderson says. "There’s certain things we have to buy, certain things we can’t get donated. But I don’t know what those things are, yet."

The DRP’s successes lie in the volunteerism that Anderson and others generate in the community.

Anderson approaches anyone and everyone within the valley’s bustling building business. Generally soft-spoken, he pitches the DRP’s projects with a sincere focus on why people in wheelchairs and seniors deserve access to good fishing facilities and not some out-of-the-way corner of a public lake.

"I talk from the heart but it comes out my mouth," Anderson says. "The worst they can do is say no. But they’ve already turned you down if you don’t ask them."

There are two kinds of people — those Anderson have hit up for a donation, and those he hasn’t met yet.

And Anderson’s army isn’t the normal lot of volunteers who bring more heart than help. His Saturday crews are the same faces you see weekdays paving Interstate 5, framing east Medford homes, fabricating metal at the latest strip mall — drafting and filing engineering plans.

"You go for 100 percent donation and work your way down," Anderson says. "I usually get enough people in the field that no one has to do too much."

A lunch of steak or salmon, all donated, awaits volunteers on their breaks.

"If you feed them well, they’ll be back," he says.

And when it’s done, a plaque goes up with each and every volunteer’s name.

"Their kids and grandkids can see that and know you did something good for people," he says.

Anderson spends about 20 hours a week pitching the Disabilities Recreation Project and the Expo plans. Business cards are stacked all over his home office.

He tackles weekend volunteerism like he tackles his current weekday work of paving roads at Crater Lake National Park.

"Being a foreman, you take charge and you take responsibility," Anderson says.

And when it comes to seniors and those with disabilities, Anderson feels responsible to make a happy angler out of everyone who wants a chance.

"It’s just something you do because you can," Anderson says.

Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com.