B.C. HYDRO FINDS CHRISTMAS LIGHTS, NOT GROW-OP

Gabriola Island - Woman raised alarm with power request

She started buying lights by the armful and stringing them in trees to
give thanks for each new year of life after beating breast cancer.

But when Ingrid Versteeg asked for more power on her Gabriola property
to fuel her passion, B.C. Hydro thought she was potty.

"At first they said I didn't have enough acreage for another house.
But I told them how many lights I had collected and [that I] was
afraid I was going to blow something up and start a fire," Versteeg
says of first her call to the utility five years ago.

"Lady, no one has 20,000 lights," was the reaction of an employee who
suspected a marijuana grow-op and arrived to investigate.

There, a worker found that electrical cords ran in all directions,
some into the forest, others to neighbour's basements. The company did
the electrical math -- and recanted. Poles were installed and trees
limbed for a new line.

Versteeg's husband, Francisco -- who survived a bout with prostate
cancer last year -- built a shed with a panel for the additional
service to power what are now more than 36,000 bulbs.

"Sure it's time-consuming, and you're darn tootin' it's complicated, a
bit of an electrical nightmare," Versteeg grins. "I get advice and it
takes a lot of work and patience, because I only keep 20-per-cent up
year-round."

Rarely does she turn all the lights on at once. But her Lights of Hope
Festival, which will this year direct donations to the Gabriola Health
Care Society, is one of them.