Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Tekoa Christmas lights work
Tekoa Christmas lights
Tekoa Trestle and Trail Association volunteers move access boards into place, putting up lights two years ago.
Christmas lights again glow from the high span of the Tekoa Trestle while on the ground it has yet to be decided if they are permitted to be there by Washington State Parks, which owns the trestle as part of the John Wayne Pioneer Trail.
The lights were hung Nov. 22 in the fourth year of an effort led by members of the Tekoa Trestle and Trail Association.
What the group did not have was permission, according to Audra Simms, Manager for Blue Mountain Area of Washington State Parks.
A week before the lights went up, Fred Wagner, TTTA secretary, sent an e-mail to Simms asking for approval. She told him no.
“They needed to obtain a permit,” Simms said. “They did it against my direction.”
Nonetheless, the lights went up – at least partly as a result of a communications mix-up in the TTTA – and Simms soon got phone calls from Tekoa residents. Was this approved?
She is now in the process of expediting the State Parks’ permit process.
“We’re bending over backwards trying retroactively to make their actions legitimate,” said Simms. “Moving into 2018 and beyond I don’t think this is something that can be sustained.”
Permitting requires approval from several layers of the State Parks organization, including staff at headquarters in Olympia.
“This isn’t about the lights, it’s not about Christmas, it’s about state property and our highest priority is safety,” Simms said. “I’m trying to handle this as gently and as neighborly as possible.”
Wagner, TTTA President Ted Blaszak and the non-profit were granted permission two years ago to put up the lights by an e-mail from a lower-level employee at the Blue Mountain Area office, before Simms came in as head of it in 2016.
“One of the staff typed it on behalf of the area manager,” said Simms, who succeeded Gary Vierra.
The message was sent to Blaszak. What it did not make clear was whether permission was for that particular year or more.
“We were kind of taking advantage of the lack of specificity of the e-mail,” said Wagner. “It wasn’t what you’d call official. You can fault us for that. We didn’t plan enough ahead. We also didn’t know it was a three to six-month process to get permission.”
A communication mix-up happened next.
“I was out of town that week and came back and they had put up the lights,” Wagner said with a laugh, talking about this year. “It’s common in a lot of organizations, non-profits too, the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.”
Once the State Parks’ retroactive permit review got underway, the TTTA paid a processing fee of $365. Washington State Parks waived an activity fee since the TTTA is a non-profit.
“It’s true somebody complained, but they didn’t know all the facts before they called, I think,” said Blaszak. “The important thing is the lights are still up and shining bright.”
The effort to decorate the trestle was led again this year by Ivan Mercer, a former lineman for General Telephone and Electronics in the Coeur d’Alene area who moved to Tekoa four years ago after he retired.
“We’re not talking about some high school kids here,” Wagner said. “We are middle-aged and older adults, afraid of heights, very careful about what we do. We’re not doing this carelessly and recklessly.”
What does he expect to happen when the permit process is complete?
“I expect us not to be cited for anything,” Wagner said.
The lights now run every day on a timer, from 4:30 p.m. until midnight.
If the permit process comes out negative for the TTTA, the path is clear.
“Then the lights are gonna get unplugged,” said Simms. “It is highly questionable whether or not this can continue.”
An added “Merry Christmas” wording graces the Tekoa Trestle lights for 2017.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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