Washington State’s own Neverland on the shores of Lake
Washington: Seventeen abusers at St. Edwards Seminary; others doing nothing
when there was something to be done. Reverend Hunthausen closing the place, deeding
it for $7M to the State for a park in 1977, doing more.
Boys for 45 years were exposed to this culture, some as
young as eleven. Like Michael Jackson, the charismatic, the powerful lured the
children. There were extravaganza May Day celebrations. The chosen, the stars
of their families, were isolated from proud parents and grandparents. The
Seattle Times featured an article on an investigating committee and its
question: Where were the boys raped? Likely in the recesses of the 90,000
square foot main building that dominates the grand promontory, alone with their tormentor.
Forty-five years a Seminary is a blink in the human history
of this land and the cultures that went before. For centuries the grand promontory
was likely a burial ground known by the name Li’lskut. Ancient cedars held
warriors, sentries of Lake Washington, the women and children interred below. The
old growth cedars were logged by the unwashed. Did the spirituality remain
palpable?
The Archdiocese may have known the history of the land or
like those before appreciated its quietude surrounded by canyons that rended the
glacial hill 1100 years ago.
When the Seminary closed, the park remained a quiet place uplifted
by the laughter of children and families at play. After 9-11, Buddhist monks meditated along the
main trail deep in their quietude. Today families fly kites, run their dogs, make
a day or an hour of family time. No less than three schools teach youth and
adults about the native flora and fauna, and YMCA’s educate busloads of city children
from intense city neighborhoods. Until recently. Plumes of smoke from
demolition and litter rise and fall from the lead and asbestos site, marring the beauty today with yet unidentified contamination to the broader site.
Less than forty years a park, self-service is again rotting
the core.
Lobbyists for a developer promised a re-purpose of the 90,000
square foot building to be a convention center complex and economic engine for the
State. Families are now fenced out of the
profitable core, and will be in the future. Forgotten are the original dreams to
help people of all cultures achieve physical and mental health. Forgotten is
the reason this land was considered special. Chief Seattle: There is no quiet place in the white man’s
cities, no place to hear the leaves of spring or the rustle of insects’ wings.
Perhaps it is because I am a savage and do not understand, but the clatter only
seems to insult the ears.
There is a way back. Construction costs are not what State Parks
or the Department of Commerce inflated. The lease can be sold to a low impact
agency, one that relates to the park. For instance, State or National archival
libraries would be open to the public and honor what had gone before.
Our legislators must look beyond the spectacles where pro
commercial development spoke first, by design, and look instead, to help the
people.
Please write to Senator Cantwell and ask her to help enforce
the legal restrictions that protect this park: maria_cantwell@cantwell.senate.gov. For
the terms and the background that make the Daniels’ lease illegal and unfair,
see more of www.savesteds.blogspot.com.
Thank you. Ann Hurst
Comments
Post a Comment