PROTEST CONDEMNS COLLEGE GOLF PLAN; COURSE PROJECT PARTNER GLAD FOR LOW TURNOUT.

Byline: Phil Davis Daily News Staff Writer

When Molly Orr heard her favorite cross-country track through the rolling hills and farmland of Pierce College might become a golf course, she grabbed a placard and headed out to protest.

``I don't want to see all this beautiful land, which we don't have much of in Southern California, completely gone,'' the 13-year-old runner said Sunday, hoisting a sign that said ``Fields not Greens.''

Molly and her West Valley Eagles Cross Country teammates were among more than 100 people who turned out for a Sunday afternoon rally against a proposed $20 million, 18-hole golf course that would replace the 240-acre Pierce College farm that borders DeSoto Avenue and Victory Boulevard.

Protest organizers hoped Sunday's rally would drum up opposition to the golf course proposal, which is being considered for approval by the Pierce College Council at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

The protesters support leaving the farm intact and, possibly, using it for organic gardening to help bring money to the cash-strapped college.

``We already have lots of golf courses, so I think it's important to save the farm,'' said Samuel Manusevitz, a Tarzana resident who studied plant propagation at Pierce College in the mid-1980s. ``This is one of the last farms in the San Fernando Valley. A farm is soil. Soil is God - it's how we get our sustenance.''

But developers say an estimated $800,000 annual income from the golf course will ultimately do Pierce College more good than maintaining a farm.

``What does the farm do for the students? Nobody here seems to be able to answer that,'' said Eddie Milligan, a partner in the group that drafted the golf course plan.

Milligan and his partner, professional golfer Jim Colbert, won crucial approval of a Pierce College task force last week, a vote that cleared the way for Tuesday's vote. The plan must also meet the approval of the Pierce College president and the Los Angeles Community College District.

Milligan was pleased by the low number of protesters at Sunday's rally.

``It's less than half the original protest,'' he said.

But what the protesters lacked in numbers, they made up for in passion. Passing cars at Victory Boulevard and DeSoto Avenue greeted the placard-waving crowd with honks of approval and shouts of support.

Volunteers were recruited to carry petitions door-to-door in surrounding neighborhoods. Passers-by were urged to mob the council meeting and voice opposition to the golf course.

Carrie Biggs-Adams, a Canoga Park cross-country running coach, said the golf course would ruin the only nearby place for city kids to see an actual working farm and farm animals. She fretted over the loss of prime running terrain for her team and wondered about the fate of the Canada geese that use the land as a winter feeding ground.

``This is their winter hangout,'' she said. ``For them to get here and find a pesticide-laden golf course would be wrong.''