"Stop, look and listen before you cross the street. Use your eyes, use your ears and then you use your feet."

For about 70 children at Safety Town this week in Philomath, that's one of life's most important lessons. Well, at least so far.

Safety Town, a program sponsored by the Philomath Youth Activities Club and Philomath Police Department, is designed to teach 5-year-olds important safety rules.

"We try to prepare the kids for the experience of going into kindergarten," said Sarah Rustan, director of the weeklong program which is somewhat of a rite of passage for young people who have grown up in Philomath.

The children get familiar with the school building, she explained, and they get to meet other kids they'll be in class with in just a few weeks.

Because kindergarten might be the first time many of them venture very far from the protective environment of home, learning how to cross the street, ride a school bus, deal with strangers or play safely around water or on the playground is good to know.

Philomath police officer Mark Koeppe shows up every day for each three-hour session from 8 to 11 a.m. or noon to 3 p.m. He's been helping in Safety Town for at least 10 years and says the key is getting the children to go home each day and talk to their parents about what they are learning.

The Safety Town program in Corvallis was temporarily suspended this year but it will start up again next summer, according to Tammy Dooley of the Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis. A location for the program could not be found due to repairs being done in buildings that have hosted the program in the past, she said.

On Tuesday, Koeppe showed a video about gun safety and talked about how hard it is sometimes to tell a real gun from a toy gun.

"What should you do if you see a gun?" he asked.

"Stop. Don't touch. Leave the area and tell an adult," the children shouted in unison.

In Philomath, Koeppe is somewhat of a celebrity in town because of his long tenure with Safety Town. Children he taught long ago still recognize him and call out his name in the grocery store. He's also been invited to several birthday parties over the years.

Such personal interaction with the nearly 1,000 children who've gone through the program in the last decade is invaluable, Koeppe said.

"It's a very positive experience for the kids to learn police officers are real people who they can talk to and who aren't just looking to get people in trouble all the time," he said.

Students from Philomath Middle School help teach the kids in small groups of six or seven. Others in the community who help support Safety Town include the fire chief who welcomes the children to the fire station and a representative from the power company who talks about being safe around power lines.

Various businesses sponsor "houses" in the play town set up in the Clemens Primary School gym where the children ride pedal-powered go-carts on streets marked by tape and dotted with stop signs at the major intersections.

The go-carts, which help teach pedestrian safety, are always a favorite activity.

Teen volunteer Caitlin Coudriet, 13, admitted that's what she remembered the most when she went to Safety Town as a little girl.

"My favorite part was the cars too," said her friend Felicia Harris, another eighth-grader helping this year.

Parents interested in enrolling their children in next year's Safety Town, can call the Philomath Youth Activities Club at 929-4040 for information.