STEVE SMITH -- What’s Up?

It’s “lights out” in the twin cities. Last week, former school board

president Dana Black called Mariners Elementary School with an elementary

request: unplug -- not remove -- the colored lights that parents had put

up.

The request caused ripples in the national media, which was searching

for news because the lights went out on Al Gore’s presidential bid.

But there is no story here. Black was correct in placing the call to

Mariners for it has been apparent for years that Christmas has no place

in public schools, here or across the country. The real news would have

been that the lights remained shining.

Christmas lights in other places are also making news. In Sacramento,

the state Christmas tree was turned on, then turned off 30 minutes later,

the use of power to light the pine having been determined to be excessive

in this time of power shortages.

All over the state, homeowners have been asked to burn their holiday

bulbs only between the hours of 7 and 10 p.m. -- a request I support.

One organization that has turned a blind eye to blazing lights is

Trinity Broadcasting in Costa Mesa. The lights that adorn the building

and the grounds are so numerous and bright, I am sure they’re visible

from deep space.

However, the lights this year do not provoke the usual “ooohs” and

“aaahs,” but jeers for their ostentatious, in-your-face display during

the power crisis.

This year, the lights at Trinity Broadcasting burn especially bright

against the eventual rolling blackouts and long-term power shortages.

Black took it one leap further. When I told her I was going to write

about Trinity Broadcasting and ask them to turn off the lights, she said,

“Think how many hungry people they could feed.” That’s it in a nutshell.

I spoke to Colby May, the Washington-based attorney who acts as

Trinity’s media mouthpiece. Asked if there were any plans to alter the

display in any way, May said, “We’re already using low-wattage lights and

have cut back the display to the hours of 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.”

Trinity Broadcasting is an easy target because of their lights and

because almost anyone outside of their organization -- grenade-throwers

such as yours truly -- can be expected to criticize them for their

enormous waste of energy.

But how many of us are not guilty of the same thing on our own,

personal level throughout the year? How many of us drive too much or

drive too far each week, burning gasoline? How many of us have not taken

the few seconds to turn off extra lights around the house during the

year? Why is it that most office buildings have lights blazing throughout

the night, long before and long past the time when a custodial crew needs

the power in which to clean?

Why stop with Trinity? Should we not also ask, for example, Disneyland

to cut back or cut out the extra 300,000 bulbs that light up “It’s a

Small World” this season?

The fact is, we’ve all been drunk on electricity for far too long. We

take for granted what we have been loaned while we’re here on Earth, with

few of us stopping to consider that what we waste each day was meant to

last for thousands of years after we’re gone. The single light bulb we

leave on upstairs burns only pennies. But it burns along with thousands

of other bulbs in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, making up a tremendous

waste of the power we now crave so dearly.

This is not an excuse for Trinity Broadcasting to maintain their

garish display. Later in our conversation, May offered that the lights

were still burning brightly “to remind people why we celebrate Christmas,

to celebrate the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ.”

I fail to see the connection between wasting precious electricity and

providing a reminder to the masses of the real meaning of Christmas.

May’s words ring even more hollow considering that Trinity Broadcasting

can be seen from the parking lot of South Coast Plaza, one of the great

facilitators of our desire to run up our credit card bills in the name of

Jesus’ birthday.

I would like Trinity to take the lead in local conservation by cutting

their display back to just the “Happy Birthday, Jesus” sign on their roof

and shutting them down after 10 p.m. Similarly, office buildings in the

twin cities should shut down their lights at the earliest opportunity of

the evening, probably right after the custodial crew has cleaned the

floor.

If for no other reason, we must turn off the lights to show our

children we are not as thoughtless as we appear. I’m not a biblical

scholar, but something tells me Jesus would agree.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer. Readers

can leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at (949) 642-6086.