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February 23, 2024 · 7:38 am

Protests Halt Blacktip Island Phone Booth Removal

Blacktip Island’s mid-1980s-era pay phone booth was saved from destruction Thursday when a group of community activists protested its removal on the grounds of its place in the small Caribbean island’s cultural heritage. (photo courtesy of Leah Shore)

An impromptu protest by tens of Blacktip Island residents Thursday halted the scheduled removal of the small Caribbean island’s sole remaining public pay phone booth.

“That booth’s part of our heritage, part of our history,” island historian Smithson Atchul said. “Been on the island since before I was born. It’s a neighbor. I made my first prank call from that booth. Asked out my first date from there, too.

“Back in the day, when most folks didn’t have phone lines, they’d line up to use that booth,” Altschul said. “It was part of the glue that held the community together. No, it hasn’t worked in years, but that’s not the point. For Blacktip, it’s an icon. Something to tell our kids stories about.”

Island officials say the proposed removal was part of an island beautification plan.

“That thing’s been rotting there for years. Decades, even,” island mayor Jack Cobia said. “It’s an eyesore, and makes us look like a laughingstock to island visitors. It needs to go so we can embrace the future. If the phone booth stays, what’s next, putting all our old fax machines on display?”

Legal experts say the removal was legally problematic.

“Wanting the booth gone is all well and good, but the question is who has the authority to remove it?” local attorney Harriet Bottoms said. “Technically, it’s still the property of the phone company. Sure, that company went out of business with the rise of cellular communication, but that corporate entity still owns the booth. For the island council to take unilateral action could lead to years of legal proceedings. Which is what the protestors focused on.”

Many locals supported the protest.

“It’s a symbol of Blacktip, like the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, or Big Ben is to London,” protestor Leah Shore said. “Tourists love having their photos taken with it. Tearing it down, hauling it to the dump, does no one any good. And how much would that removal cost? Why not put that money toward something positive?

“Some of us are working on a plan to restore the booth,” Shore said. “We’re going to clean all the corrosion from it, replace the missing glass, and, if we can find one, replace the receiver to give it a like-new look. We may even install external lights to illuminate it at night, and colored LED lights inside. Whether it’s a functional phone is beside the point. This is a matter of community pride.”

Blacktip Divers To Attempt Record Underwater Phone Booth Stuffing

Diver B.C. Flote makes a preliminary safety inspection Thursday at Ma Bell Reef, the site of Saturday’s underwater phone booth stuffing contest. (Photo courtesy of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife)

Scuba divers on Blacktip Island will attempt to set the world record for underwater telephone booth stuffing Saturday on Ma Bell Reef to raise awareness of the island’s newest dive site, island chamber of commerce officials said.

“Our phone booth gathered dust for years, so we sunk it as an artificial reef,” chamber president Ledford Waite said. “We had all the booths from Tiperon sent over, too, and sunk them. It’s a one-of-a-kind site, but the problem’s getting the word out.

“We figured a 1950s stunt using 1980s technology would be perfect for drawing attention,” Waite said. “The world record’s 25 people, but that was on land and without scuba gear. We got eight divers in a booth in a practice run, and we’re hoping someone can squeeze in 11 or 12.”

Experts expect teams to use a variety of strategies.

“Official attempts have to be in a standard, upright phone booth, but that’s the only constant,” chamber treasurer and Tiperon University-Blacktip engineering chair Sally Port said. “How teams handle mass and volume is key. There’s lots of math involved in wedging the right people in the right order, and jamming their tanks in at just the right angles without dislodging any regulators.

“The ideal stuffee should on the short and skinny side, but that’s up to the load master who’ll stack divers in as he or she thinks best,” Port said. “The good thing about doing this on scuba is we don’t have to worry about the person on the bottom not being able to breathe. Or cracking ribs. That’s what killed the fad back in the 50s.”

Teams have done extensive preparation for the event.

“We punched in everyone’s height, weight and density stats, then ran a bunch of computer simulations to see who fits best where,” Marina DeLow said. “We have a good idea of who we want where, but I can’t say more than that. Other than Lee Helm goes on the bottom. Based on solely on him being a jerk.”

Contest rules allow for part of each stuffed diver to extend from the booth.

“If their torso’s in, we’ll call it good,” Waite said. “It’s OK to have arms and leg sticking out, so long as most of the body’s in the booth. And we’ll have safety divers on hand in case anyone does get their reg yanked out, what with arms and legs getting shoved every which way.”

Photos of the winners will be sent to Guinness Book of World Records.

“Technically, no one’s tried to do this before, so any number will be the record,” safety diver B.C. Flote said. “But we’ll be maxing it out to make sure the Guinness people take us seriously.

“This event’s already drawing the community together, young and old,” Flote said. “It proves doing pointless, dangerous things is ageless and universal.”