Scrooge hits Sea Tac Airport

[radiofan]

Sunday, December 10, 2006 ? Last updated 6:14 p.m. PT

Christmas trees removed at Sea-Tac

KOMO-TV STAFF AND ASSOCIATED PRESS

All nine Christmas trees have been removed from Sea-Tac International Airport instead of adding a giant Jewish menorah to the holiday display as a rabbi had requested.

For more than 25 years, the airport has celebrated the holidays with Christmas trees over its entrances. But overnight, the Port of Seattle ordered all of them removed. Maintenance workers boxed up the trees during the graveyard shift early Saturday, when airport bosses believed few people would notice.

"We decided to take the trees down because we didn't want to be exclusive," said airport spokeswoman Terri-Ann Betancourt. "We're trying to be thoughtful and respectful, and will review policies after the first of the year."

Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky, who made his request weeks ago, said he was appalled by the decision. He had hired a lawyer and threatened to sue if the Port of Seattle didn't add the menorah next to the trees, which had been festooned with red ribbons and bows.

"Everyone should have their spirit of the holiday. For many people the trees are the spirit of the holidays, and adding a menorah adds light to the season," said Bogomilsky, who works in Seattle at the regional headquarters for Chabad Lubavitch, a Jewish education foundation.

After consulting with lawyers, port staff believed that adding the menorah would have required adding symbols for other religions and cultures in the Northwest. The holidays are the busiest season at the airport, Betancourt said, and staff didn't have time to play cultural anthropologists.

Hanukkah begins this Friday at sundown.

"They've darkened the hall instead of turning the lights up," said Bogomilsky's lawyer, Harvey Grad. "There is a concern here that the Jewish community will be portrayed as the Grinch."

Angry airport employees have started a campaign urging people to call the Port of Seattle to complain.

The Christmas trees are now in storage or hidden in unused areas of the airport where they won't be seen.

Airlines companies that lease space in the airport are not being required to remove decorations from their check-in counters.

Rachel Garson with the Port of Seattle said the issue would be revisited after the holidays are over.

"Since this is the busiest time of year we decided to take the decorations down now and consider a new policy after the new year," Garson said.


Read the responses to this story in The Seattle P-I

[kat]

Gimme a break and give me back my Christmas!

The US and Canada have become total wimps when it comes to anything that might not be politically correct.

I find Salvation Army volunteers at the doors of stores with their red kettles somewhat offensive. If I choose to give some money, I will do so without someone trying to impede my exit from a shopping trip and giving me a look of for not sharing everytime I pass them.

Would I get anywhere if I were to complain about them? Not likely. I was born here and have lost many of my rights.

If you are in a position to share this holiday season, your local food bank as well as Union Gospel Mission are great places to help out.

Merry Christmas to all.

[XFM]

This entire fiasco is a joke, and I think the ones who are going to end up the worst off are the Jews, because there will be a backlash (probably not in deed, but at least in thought) against them.

As far as I know, Christmas trees are not a religious symbol. I don't think there was a decorated tree anywhere near the manger, and Christ was said to have been crucfied on a beam, not a Scotch pine.

Had the concourse been festooned with crosses or shots of the Madonna and child, or a nativity scene, I would understand.

Where is the line at religious symbolism drawn? Is a one horse open sleigh a sign of Christianity? Are Boxing Day sales a celebration of Judaism?

BTW kat, with reference to the Salvation Army. I have done a lot of volunteer work (although not for them) so rather than throwing in a $20.00 bill at one kettle, I will toss in some coins at kettles as I pass them through out the season. These people are ordinary folk who have taken time from their schedule to volunteer for the cause, I like to support their efforts.

If they were to give me a look of (which has never been my experience) I wouldn't be concerned by the emotions of a stranger.

[XFM]

Dec. 12, 2006, 2:57AM
Deck the halls with controversy
Holiday trees are back up at Seattle airport after a nationwide furor


By JANET I. TU and LORNET TURNBULL
Mcclatchy-tribune

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SEATTLE ? The holiday trees that went away in the middle of the night are back.
On Monday night, Port of Seattle staff began putting up the trees they had taken down at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Friday night after a local rabbi requested that a Hanukkah menorah also be displayed. Port officials said the rabbi's lawyer had threatened to imminently file a lawsuit, leaving them with insufficient time to consider all the issues.

A nationwide furor erupted over the weekend as news of the trees' removal spread, with a flood of calls to Port officials and harshly worded e-mails to Jewish organizations.

On Monday, Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky said he would not file a lawsuit and the Port, in response, said it would put the trees back up.

"This has been an unfortunate situation for all of us in Seattle," Port of Seattle Commission President Pat Davis said in a statement. "The rabbi never asked us to remove the trees. It was the Port's decision based on what we knew at the time. We very much appreciate the rabbi's willingness to work with us as we move forward."

A menorah will not be displayed this year. Port spokesman Bob Parker said "we look forward to sitting down after the first of the year with not only Rabbi Bogomilsky but others as well, and finding ways to make sure there's an appropriate winter holiday representation for all faiths. We want to find out a way to celebrate the winter holidays that is sensitive to all faiths."

Bogomilsky, who works with Chabad-Lubavitch, an Orthodox Jewish outreach organization, said, "Like people from all cultures and religions, we're thrilled the trees are going back up." But he said he was disappointed that Port officials chose not to put up the menorah as well, pointing out there are still several days until the start of Hanukkah. "I still hope that they'll consider putting the menorah up this year. But ultimately it's their decision."

He also said he hopes the Port will apologize for mischaracterizations that led people to believe he was against having the trees displayed.

At the airport Monday night, Matt Bachleda of Snohomish was playing cards while waiting for his daughter to arrive from Paris. "It looks like Christmas is back," he said.