I have an interesting dilemma. Should I, or we who care about lighthouses, or my members, the Friends of Plum Beach Lighthouse support the renewed effort of the Friends of Ponham Rocks in East Providence, RI? Or should we boycott their efforts because of their circumstance?

Some Background. The lighthouse is owned by the largest global conglomerate on the planet, Exxon Mobil. When they purchased it several decades ago they were deeded to care for it. They failed miserably. But in the past year, guilt pangs made the company realize they had to do something to save it and to save company face. It would have been a public relations nighthmare if the lighthouse had collapsed, and apparantly it was getting dangerously close to doing just that. So Exxon Mobil has offered to work with the American Lighthouse Foundation to save the structure. But in doing so, they will be competing for the same funds that all the non-profits are vying for out there. Exxon Mobil, with more money than god, is looking for outside funds to repair their own property! As the president of the Friends of Plum Beach Lighthouse, I feel for the newly formed members of the Ponham Rocks group, but to Exxon Mobil, give me a break!! They should be donating some of their vast fortunes to the rest of us struggling non profits who are trying to save our own little pieces of history!! I'm all for preserving these treasures, but to claim poverty to cover up their negligence is appalling.

Very interesting quandry!

I'd say that Exxon Mobil should be 'encouraged' to make a major donation to ALF as a reconciliation for their years of failing to fulfill their obligation to Pomham Rocks.

Those funds could then benefit several other area lighthouses, not just the one that Exxon chose to 'ignore' rather than 'restore.'

You might think about suggesting that E-M could donate services and not just funds. They could have some of their employees handle the restoration chores on 'company time,' for example.

I believe there are two alternatives here:

1. Work with Exxon-Mobil and save the light as best you can;

2. Don't work with Exxon-Mobil and eventually the lighthouse will fall into the Providence River and be replaced with a sign, "Welcome to Exxon-Mobil's East Providence Fuel Terminal, the former home of the Pomham Rock Lighthouse."

The fact Exxon-Mobil is willing to let non-company employees onto the site with the opportunity to save a valuable part of marine heritage is a plus. Remember, Exxon-Mobil is in the business of making money for the company and the stockholders. Many of those stockholders would vote to bulldoze the light if they thought they would make more money on their stock.

Didn't someone say Exxon-Mobil already donated $25,000 towards the restoration? Maybe there will be more donations in the future similar to that. Think positive!

Bob

Good Points Bob!

Yes, Exxon-Mobil did already donate $25,000 towards the restoration and they are leasing the light to the American Lighthouse Foundation. Best of luck to the Friends of Pomham Rocks Lighthouse! If only we could get more large corporations to follow the lead of Exxon-Mobil!

Dave - I do want to congratulate you and your group for the fantastic restoration you have accomplished on the Plum Beach Lighthouse!

All my best,
Paul Conlin
Secretary,
ALF

Thanks for your input--Bob, thanks for being so positive, and you make a good point that at least they are putting SOMETHING into the lighthouse. Paul, thanks for your input as well. My point is that EM has neglected the lighthouse up to this point so even though putting money into it would be the perverbial drop in the bucket for them, what they have effectively done is to place the lighthouse back into competition for scarce funds with all the other lighthouses in the area. What Exxon Mobil should be doing is fixing their lighthouse up--then donating to help save the others!

Maybe Exxon-Mobils' first donation of $25,000 may not be the last. Maybe they will watch what the "Friends of Pomham Rock Light" do to the light with the 25K and may be encouraged to donate more in the future. If they get enough good publicity out of helping this light, maybe they may be encouraged to help other lighthouse groups in the future.

I would say it's the old bang for your buck theory. Supporting this and other lights may be money well spent in advertising. It all depends what takes place at Pomham Rock. Time will tell.

Bob

Okay...jumping in a little late on the bandwagon, but here's how I feel.

It's a lighthouse. We love lighthouses. I don't care if it's owned by Michael Jackson, and all the excess money goes to fund his molestation trial, it's a lighthouse.

As Wackos, it's our duty to preserve lighthouses in any way, shape, or form we can. Actually, David, you could be a very good asset to the Ponham Rocks group - having restored the Plum Beach Light, which is subject to the same weather, conditions, etc. as Ponham, you have already learned a lot about restoring RI lights.

I would say, don't just support, help! Maybe it took ExxonMobil all these years to get around to the light, but now they are. If they didn't, we might as well have Bob's proverbial fuel terminal.

Just my 2 pence.

Better late than never.
Support the lighthouse.

FYI
ExxonMobil has contributed additional funds to the restoration of Pomham Rocks Lighthouse.
In fact, the first phase of the $250,000 restoration is now well under way.

This lighthouse will be saved thanks to years of negotiations bewteen the American Lighthouse Foundation and ExxonMobil.

The Friends of Pomham Rocks, a chapter of ALF, have done an amazing job of helping to bring this all together.

We can now only hope that other large corporations follow ExxonMobil's lead and help and contribute to lighthouse preservation causes.

ExxonMobil is to be commended for their efforts and forming a partnership with the American Lighthouse Foundation.

Tim

Way to go ALF, FPR, and Exxon. Sometimes it takes the outside pressure to get the results.
The LIChapter has had a similar scenario with Homeland Security at Plum Island. They finally decided to budget and do it themselves, rather than have outsiders(lighthouse people)involved.
And now we have the LH secure from the peril of falling into Plum Gut.
As long as it gets done! We don't need any credit.

How great to hear about a large corporation working so hard for lighthouses! It's not often that this happens, and I commend ExxonMobil!

Maybe THIS is where all that extra gas money is going... :rolleyes:

Thanks for sharing, Tim!

Me too, glad to see that big business is putting some money out, even if it is to get publicity! One question though, am I going to have a picture of scaffolding when we go by there next week?!? :rolleyes:

Steve

I'm glad that Exxon and the "Friends of Pomham ROcks" are getting some work done on the light. I have biked past that lights many times in the past and it always looked good to me, but that was from the bike path and not up close and personal.

Bert

I once read a book that had a theme that people do the right thing for the wrong reason, but as long as they do the right thing, why should we care for the reason they did it?

I took a ride past Pomham Rock while out on a short boat trip to gas up yesterday. There is evidence of exterior work going on. There were some ladders with planking going across the sides of the light.

The area below the lantern room appears to be a cream color instead of white. I don't know if the cream color is the original color or if the workers are planning to paint over the cream color with white at a later date. I did take a couple of quick pics but haven't downloaded them from the camera yet. I'll try to get a pic posted as soon as I get a chance.

Bob

Bob, Where's the pic?? :p :p :p

Steve

Here's the pic from Saturday. Sorry, I was a little delayed. The Cosmo Kid has been keeping us really busy!



Bob

Thanks Bob. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll have it painted by Friday!?! NOT!!

Steve