All Christmas trees removed from Sea-Tac Airport
aNiMaL
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http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_120906WABxmastreesEL.11b0d0cc.html
Xmas trees removed from Sea-Tac
05:57 PM PST on Saturday, December 9, 2006
By KIM HOLCOMB / KING 5 News
SEA-TAC Airport - All of the Christmas trees inside the terminal at Sea-Tac have been removed in response to a complaint by a rabbi.
A local rabbi wanted to install an 8-foot menorah and have a public lighting ceremony. He threatened to sue if the menorah wasn’t put up, and gave a two-day deadline to remove the trees.
Sea-Tac public affairs manager Terri-Ann Betancourt said the trees that adorn the Sea-Tac upper and lower levels may not properly represent all cultures.
She said that since this is their busiest time of year and they don't have time to add a fair representation of all cultures, her department decided to take down all of the decorations, review their policies, and decide if they need to make a change for next year.
"You know, our focus is on customer service, getting our passengers through the airport, and we thought if we could take the trees down and avoid litigation because we don't want to littigate with this individual, we want to reach some kind of solution," Betancourt said. "But that is going to take some thoughtful discussion and we would like to have time to have that thoughtful discussion."
Until then, no Christmas decor at Sea-Tac.
The same decorations have been put up for at least 10 years, she added.
Xmas trees removed from Sea-Tac
05:57 PM PST on Saturday, December 9, 2006
By KIM HOLCOMB / KING 5 News
SEA-TAC Airport - All of the Christmas trees inside the terminal at Sea-Tac have been removed in response to a complaint by a rabbi.
A local rabbi wanted to install an 8-foot menorah and have a public lighting ceremony. He threatened to sue if the menorah wasn’t put up, and gave a two-day deadline to remove the trees.
Sea-Tac public affairs manager Terri-Ann Betancourt said the trees that adorn the Sea-Tac upper and lower levels may not properly represent all cultures.
She said that since this is their busiest time of year and they don't have time to add a fair representation of all cultures, her department decided to take down all of the decorations, review their policies, and decide if they need to make a change for next year.
"You know, our focus is on customer service, getting our passengers through the airport, and we thought if we could take the trees down and avoid litigation because we don't want to littigate with this individual, we want to reach some kind of solution," Betancourt said. "But that is going to take some thoughtful discussion and we would like to have time to have that thoughtful discussion."
Until then, no Christmas decor at Sea-Tac.
The same decorations have been put up for at least 10 years, she added.
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Six ‘holiday trees’ at Sea-Tac Airport come down
John Gillie, The News Tribune
Published: December 9th, 2006 10:09 PM
It might be the Christmas season, but don’t look for any Christmas trees in the public areas at Sea-Tac Airport.
Graveyard-shift work crews pulled down half a dozen of what the airport called “holiday trees” at the airport early Saturday after a religious leader complained that the trees gave unfair recognition to a Christian holiday.
The trees, all artificial, were located on the canopies over each of the outside ticketing level entries to the airport. Another tree had been on display in the airport’s new Gina Marie Lindsey arrival hall on the south end of the ticketing lobby.
“The trees were all old – perhaps as much as a decade old – and they were showing their age anyway,” said Sea-Tac spokeswoman Deanna Zachrisson. The trees were decorated with nonreligious ornaments and most were unlighted. The airport had displayed the trees for many years without hearing a protest.
The trees became an issue after Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky, affiliated with the Central Organization for Jewish Education Lubavitch, asked the airport to display an 8-foot tall menorah in the arrival hall beside the holiday tree and to allow a ceremony for the lighting of the menorah. The Jewish outreach organization sponsors humanitarian, educational and social activities. It is one of a network of 2,700 Chabad centers worldwide.
The menorah is a large candelabra whose lighting recalls the victory some 2,200 years ago of the Jewish community over Syrian rule of Israel and over Syrian repression of the Jewish faith.
The Port of Seattle felt that allowing such a clearly religious symbol to be displayed in the airport might violate constitutional prohibitions about mixing church and state, said Terri-Ann Betancourt, the airport’s chief spokesperson. The airport thus turned down Bogomilsky’s request. The rabbi hired a lawyer, who threatened to file a federal civil rights suit over the display of the “holiday trees,” she said.
“We want to be respectful of all religions,” said Betancourt. “We didn’t want to get into litigation with a religious group over this issue. We would rather deal with the issue after the holidays when we can talk with all those who are concerned in an unhurried manner,” she said.
Thus, the airport removed the offending trees. Port of Seattle commissioners were briefed on the issue and didn’t disagree with how it was being handled.
While the holiday decorations are down in the public areas, the airport wasn’t stripped bare of any signs of the Christmas season, said Zachrisson. Airlines, restaurants and vendors who lease space from the airport are free to post whatever holiday decorations they choose, she said. Many have decorated their ticket counters with holiday fare.
Betancourt speculated that since the trees were nearing the end of their lives anyway, when the airport buys new decorations, it won’t be more trees.
“I suspect you’ll be seeing a lot of snowmen and snowflakes,” she said. As head of the Pacific Northwest Friends of Chabad-Lubavitch, Rabbi Bogomilsky last year sponsored the lighting and display of a menorah aboard a naval warship, the USS Ford, at the Naval Station Everett. Sailors also festooned the ship with Christmas decorations.
Attempts to reach Rabbi Bogomilsky were unsuccessful.
John Gillie: 253-597-8663 john.gillie@thenewstribune.com
HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE
http://www.myspace.com/thelastreel http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19604327965
and Merry Christmas to you my friend
I told you Christmas trees were unconstitutional. Now if they really have no religious meaning, why would someone from another faith be offended by them?
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Not again.
naděje umírá poslední
the rabbi is mad aboutthe trees coming down and wants them back up as well as menorah
the rabbi seems like a great guy
http://groups.msn.com/PearlJamNirvana/messages.msnw
so what will jerk-stupid adl do about that??!!
and all jews dont like the adl either
http://groups.msn.com/PearlJamNirvana/messages.msnw
Though allowing the Menorah would most certainly assure that the terrorists would stay out of my airport for the holidays, thus making my commute that much easier.
old music: http://www.myspace.com/slowloader
when it hits you, you feel to pain.
So brutalize me with music.”
~ Bob Marley
b/c people look for reasons to be offended and some people aren't happy unless they are a)pissed off or b)making other people upset.
The rabbi would have won, which is really pathetic.
That was what I picked up on right away too.
Another missed opportunity to negotiate IMO.
In other news, rabbi demands that Southwest Airlines replace Christmas cookies on all domestic flights with gefilte fish.
old music: http://www.myspace.com/slowloader
When the fuck are we going to just enjoy eachother's cultures instead of trying to compete with them?
http://www.wishlistfoundation.org
Oh my, they dropped the leash.
Morgan Freeman/Clint Eastwood 08' for President!
"Make our day"
this is the culture we've created. I'll sue if I don't like what's happening...no matter how asinine the situation.
2 days? news i saw didnt say that
so who is lieing?
http://groups.msn.com/PearlJamNirvana/messages.msnw
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
-Oscar Wilde
I can see it now...rabbi rolls up to Sea-Tac with a Menorah that's on dubbs.
old music: http://www.myspace.com/slowloader
http://cgi.ebay.com/8-FOOT-TALL-INFLATABLE-LIGHTED-CHANUKAH-MENORAH_W0QQitemZ330058569736QQcmdZViewItem
:eek:
old music: http://www.myspace.com/slowloader
Besides, the holiday is really about the winter solstice anyway,.. Christians adopted it, yeah, but it's still mainly a festive period for everyone. That's why gift giving and big feasts are still a major part of it.
http://www.wishlistfoundation.org
Oh my, they dropped the leash.
Morgan Freeman/Clint Eastwood 08' for President!
"Make our day"
i saw show last night of the nisqually earthquake and the jerks cant even build a control tower =the jerk inside was being crushed by falling objects off ceiling during earthquake -fools
http://groups.msn.com/PearlJamNirvana/messages.msnw
God, that's a lot of money to pay for a blow up menorah! The christmas trees are much more charming. The jews need to make them more appealing!
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
-Oscar Wilde
10/21/06 & 10/22/06 (Bridge Shows)
You can get a better deal on a Christmas tree too. It's a conspiracy
old music: http://www.myspace.com/slowloader
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon