Edmonds drops suit over totem pole, but salvager wants his legal fees paid
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But Sydney Locke, the man who salvaged the kitschy totem pole, said he's not about to put the issue to rest until the city reimburses him the money he's spent in attorney fees to fight the suit.
"I'm in over $18,000 now," Locke said yesterday. "Why would I quit now?"
That sticking point could mean the matter will wind up in court even though the city would like to see it — and the brouhaha it has sparked — go away.
Haakenson has been inundated with calls and e-mails from residents concerned that the city was suing a resident and incurring attorney's bills over a discarded totem pole with little value. The suit has already cost the city between $15,000 and $20,000 in attorney fees, though city attorney Scott Snyder said that he's willing to reduce his fees to below $15,000.
Locke, who was project manager for the demolition of the Edmonds public-safety complex, last year salvaged the pole after city workers chain-sawed it into pieces and threw it in a trash bin on the construction site. Locke took most of the pieces of the pole home after getting permission from his supervisor, who had salvaging rights for the project.
The pole wasn't carved by Native Americans and once stood outside an Aurora Avenue motel. It was later purchased by Totem House Fish 'n' Chips restaurant in Edmonds and was donated to the city when Totem House closed. It had stood outside the public-safety complex for about 10 years.
Locke, believing the pole is a piece of Edmonds history, wants to refurbish the 60-year-old cedar pole and donate it to a community organization.
The city, which had trashed the pole because it had lead-based paint and because the Edmonds Arts Commission had determined it had no artistic value, unsuccessfully pressured Locke to return it. The city then filed suit last summer to get the pole back — in order to throw it away again.
Snyder said the city was suing Locke over principle because he had interfered with "representative government" by taking an item the city had opted to trash.
Locke countersued. Had the case gone to trial, the loser would have had to pay $40,000 for both sides' attorneys' fees.
Citizens besieged Haakenson's office with demands that he drop the suit. He said yesterday that the suit "had become a distraction far greater than it's worth."
Neither side is certain what will happen next, but Locke said he wasn't just going to let the matter drop.
"Who's going to foot the bills for Syd's lawyer fees?" said his attorney, Quentin Wildsmith. "That's where the fight's coming down to now."
Wildsmith said that he will ask the court to award Locke the cost of his attorneys' fees.
The city council was split over suing Locke to get the pole back.
"I'm glad the city has taken this step," said council member David Orvis, who advocated dropping the suit. "(Locke) acquired (the pole) through legal means. We were wrong to pursue the lawsuit."
Catherine Tarpley can be reached at 206-464-8255 or ctarpley@seattletimes.com.