Tomorrow is an important day for Old Man House State Park. It’s an important day for the Suquamish community as well.
If all goes as it should, the state-owned park will be returned to its rightful owners — the tribe — and will remain open to the public. Maintenance should then fall on the tribe and members of the Suquamish Olalla Neighbors.
If all goes better than expected, the Friends of Old Man House Park will attend the 7 p.m. workshop at the tribal center and opt into the upkeep plan. This is, after all, a community park.
As such, whatever dividing issues between the tribe and the Friends should be overlooked and a partnership that will benefit all should be created. Not a likely result but a good one to hope for.
Why the two groups haven’t been working together from day one shows that there are some old skeletons in Suquamish’s closet that need to buried and put to rest. This meeting can be the first step in that direction.
Both parties want the same thing — an excellent park that is open to the public.
The tribe has waited about 99 years to re-attain the land and shouldn’t have to wait an even 100 to realize this.
In the meantime, Old Man House State Park is still up for grabs but why both groups aren’t reaching for the same goal is beyond us.
