A small band of Crater High School graduates and community members is embarking on a half-million-dollar campaign to replace the school’s ailing grass field with an all-weather surface.

The field is used for football and track — weather permitting. Artificial turf would open the venue to year-round use for a variety of sports in Central Point, reduce the likelihood of sports-related injuries and save School District 6 between $20,000 and $60,000 in grounds maintenance each year, school officials said.

Artificial turf was installed at the Medford School District’s Spiegelberg Stadium in summer 2004.

Crater Athletic Director John Beck said the upgrade would create a quality facility not only for Crater athletes but for the entire community.

"We’re trying to make a facility that everyone from pre-K all the way through the seniors in our community can utilize," Beck said.

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Local developer and Crater graduate Bret Moore said the community already has stepped up in a big way, agreeing to offer services and financial support, though most have not yet committed to specific amounts.

The "Tale of the Comet" fund-raising committee, which officially formed in May, is aiming to raise $535,000 in donations and in-kind contributions such as excavation work and supplies in just two months.Moore, a 1978 graduate who ran cross country, said the project should break ground next June following the class of 2006 graduation ceremonies.

Completion would be slated for August, "so it’d be ready for football practice and all the other fall sports."

Since May, word of mouth has managed to rustle up just over a fourth of needed funding.

"We already have raised about $140,000 without even going public," said Moore, "so we think we can raise the bulk of the money in the next couple of months which would enable us to break ground."

The high-maintenance grass surface will require replacement regardless of whether money can be raised for all-weather material.

"Right now the football field is basically used for football and track and field. The rest of the time, they have to keep everybody off of it in order to keep it in good enough shape for those two uses," Moore said.

"If you overuse it, then you can’t use it," he said. "... Artificial turf can be used year-round regardless of weather and would be a real community asset."

Replacing the field, Beck noted, would complement the current resurfacing of the surrounding track.

Originally constructed in the mid-1970s and resurfaced 15 years ago, the track is being resurfaced yet again in addition to other improvements, including some cosmetic changes, cleanup and repainting.

Beck said Crater students were fortunate to benefit from ongoing support from an "extremely generous community."

"There are a number of very kind and giving corporations, not just in Central Point, but in our Rogue Valley," he said.

"We’re really excited about the kind of facility we’re going to have when this project is complete."

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Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at buffypollock@juno.com.