FARM SUPPORTERS TAKE SIGNATURES; GROUP PETITIONS PIERCE NOT TO BUILD.

Byline: Heesun Wee Daily News Staff Writer

Since the Eckard family moved to Woodland Hills more than 30 years ago, the Pierce College farm has been a part of their lives. Tony Eckard, a sheet metal mechanic, used to go running on the 240 acres. His children, Amy, 17, and Joe, 15, both Taft High School students, used to tour the area as toddlers, studying animals and crops up close. In essence, the Eckards are big farm fans.

That's why Tony Eckard and his wife, Ellen, were among several dozen college and community members who stood on the corner of De Soto Avenue and Victory Boulevard for about four hours Sunday rallying support for the farm's preservation.

``Having such a wide, open space is nice. Don't sell out is what I'm saying,'' Tony Eckard said.

``I don't want to see anything like a golf course happen. It would be sad to see it (the farm) go,'' said Ellen Eckard, an administrator at Sutter Middle School in Canoga Park.

In Woodland Hills, where modern concrete buildings have edged out once sprawling corn fields, the future of the rare open space has long been a contentious issue. But that debate recently was rekindled when discussions to possibly convert part of the farm into a golf driving range surfaced - during the farm's 50th anniversary this year, no less.

``It was the straw that broke the camel's back,'' said Margo Murman of Woodland Hills, president of the grass-roots Coalition to Save the Farm.

But administrators with Pierce and the Los Angeles Community College District say they must re-evaluate all aspects of the college, including the farm, because they're short on cash. The college faces an estimated $4.8 million operating deficit this academic year.

Rally participants, however, say the college's hands-on agricultural program is a unique resource in greater metropolitan Los Angeles that's worth saving. ``I couldn't have learned about horses and sheep from a book,'' said Aviva Malek, a Woodland Hills resident attending Pierce. She plans to pursue a career with animals.

When not brandishing signs such as ``Honk to Save Our Farm,'' San Fernando Valley residents gathered petition signatures from passing motorists who pulled over to the curb. Raymond Ramos of Encino was one of them.

``I grew up in Van Nuys. My parents used to buy produce'' from the farm, said Ramos, sitting in the driver's side of his blue Jeep and scribbling his name and address on a white sheet of paper. ``We don't have much land left anymore. It gives kids an idea of what a farm looks like,'' said Ramos, who works in sales.

The petition, the brainchild of the coalition, seeks to: preserve and revitalize the farm, establish a diverse group to operate the farm as a teaching laboratory, and support the farm's financial independence.

A review committee made up of administrators, instructors and students is examining all college offerings, with recommendations due by the end of the year.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Demonstrators line Victory Boulevard to support Pierce College's farm acreage.

(2) Nancy Thompson waits while former Pierce student Mary Kramer signs a petition to preserve the college farm.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News