I have had occasion to talk to Guy Towers, President of the St. George Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society, of Crescent City, CA, area. The ongoing story of the most intriguing lighthouse in our country and your part in saving it continues ---- see our webpage for photos and history of this lighthouse at http://home.att.net/~wackopin/

My last report related that the lantern room, which had crashed to the beach and had been badly damaged, had been restored and was ready to be put back on the lighthouse tower which is several miles out to sea. But the group did not have enough money to hire the heavy-duty sky-crane style of helicopter needed.

Our wacko pin money had been the saving contribution to putting a temporary roof onto the tower before the winter storms and their high waves could flood the interior and create even more damage. Other contributors, including Dave Hannum's ID badge proceeds, augmented their working funds.

Well now one of their members has decided that the final protection needs to be put in place -- the permanent lantern room, as further waiting will harm the interior. He made an extremely healthy contribution for this sole purpose, funding 99% of what is needed to hire the heavy duty helicopter to lift the lantern room back onto the tower at sea -- a very delicate and percision operation. About $1600 final dollars are needed to pay the crew who will be doing the final attaching.

As of this writing, that lantern room might indeed be up on top. Anyone living in that part of the West Coast might post here to report on the current status.

And of course, funds will then continue to be raised to do the interior restoration. The society hopes to raise part of these funds by conducting helicopter tours out to St. George Reef Light. This will be the only public tour by air to a lighthouse at sea anywhere in the U.S. Wouldn't you like to be one of the first to go on this exciting adventure? You can contact Guy Towers for further details, price, and scheduling at (707) 839-5798 evenings, in the Pacific time zone.

Guy was extremely appreciative of your contributions, derived from buying the 2001 Wacko pin. Doesn't it make you feel really good to have helped raise money that actually made a difference in the saving of a lighthouse.

Without our money, the project probably would have been impossible to complete. That is the kind of goal and use for our money that is the motivation for this whole project --- to raise money that can be used NOW and which will make a DIFFERENCE.

Here is a letter that Guy sent to me and asked me to post to all of you wacko pin purchasers:

"Barbara Hupp, "wacko".
Dear Barbara: On behalf of the Board of Directors of the St. George Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society, I would like to extend heartfelt thanks to you and wackos for all of your efforts on behalf of the lighthouse. As a result of those efforts, we received a very generous donation from your group and with it, along with other contributions, we were able to install a roof on the
tower just in time for the winter rains.
Thanks again for your ongoing support; it has made a real difference in the restoration of America's greatest lighthouse."

Sincerely,
Guy Towers, President
Anyone who would like to continue donating to St. George and supporting their ongoing restoration efforts, can send a check to : St. George Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society, c/o Mr. Guy Towers, P.O. Box 62, Eureka, CA 95502

And don't forget this year's project to raise funds to donate to Southeast Light on Block Island in R.I. Darlene Cook MUST have your checks in her hand by our deadline of APRIL 26. See our webpage for details on ordering.

Get your thinking caps on. Nominations will soon be requested for needy non-profit lighthouses to receive the donation from the upcoming pin for 2003. Which one will it be? Only you can determine that. Watch for Darlene's posting of the criteria and rules, coming up pretty soon on this site. If you are not already on her e-mail notification list for wacko pin information, please ask to be put on that list by contacting her at bugqueen@earthlink.net

Thank you for helping to make it possible to get the St. George flame burning again some day soon.

Barb Hupp, chairperson
Wacko Pin Project; Lamar Bevil, Darlene Cook, Henry Hupp

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ladylightkeeper

[This message has been edited by ladylightkeeper (edited 04-19-2002).]

Barb

Great to here that the wacko's have helped out another light. I wasn't in the forum last year but it's great to see what just a few people can do when they really care.
I watched the History Channel Program last night and St George was featured. In one part they were putting on that roof.

Great Job

Hank

Thanks Hank. I too watched the Lighthouse Special on the History Channel last night. Got goosebumps when they showed St. George's Reef knowing that we had helped provide funds for that critical project of their restoration efforts. It's nice to know that Wackos can make a difference.

If you missed the program last night, it is being shown again on Sunday at noon.

For those of you who have not ordered this year's Wacko Pin there are still a few days left to place that order and make a difference in the preservation efforts of another one of America's Great Lighthouses -- SE Block Lighthouse in Rhode Island. Go to http://home.att.net/~wackopin/ to order your pin now.

Darlene

Thanks for the update Barb! It's great to hear our contributions helped this great cause! Everyone involved should be proud, this is a great lighthouse. Hopefully some day many of us will have the opportunity to see this lighthouse in person!

Found this article today about the lantern room at St. George Reef. It's back!

St. George Reef Lighthouse .

WackoPin

CNN covered it and YOUR Wacko Pin purchases helped make it possible:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TRAVEL/NEWS/05/06/lighthouse.restoration.ap/index.html

That's Great to see!!

Excellent CNN story and a great job. That air trip sounds like a winner!

Chuck

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bigdragon

It is great to see something really concrete being accomplished out there. Good work all!