Another Road Sign Attracts Crowd Seeing Mary Yakima Bishop Cautious, Asks Cooperation To Ensure Public Safety

Another reported sighting of the Virgin Mary on a highway sign, this time in Moses Lake, drew hundreds of sightseers before the sign was removed by the state Department of Transportation.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Diocese of Yakima said Tuesday it was too soon to decide whether a vision of the Virgin Mary reportedly seen on highway signs in the Yakima Valley since last weekend has religious significance.

“The church understandably always proceeds with caution when it may seem that there is a miraculous manifestation of any kind,” Bishop Carlos A. Sevilla said in a news release.

Sevilla noted that the Transportation Department’s explanation that the signs are coated to prevent oxidation may provide a scientific explanation for the visions.

The visions of the Virgin Mary have drawn large crowds in both places and created traffic safety concerns.

“I ask the Catholic faithful to be aware of the need for public safety in Sunnyside and to follow the directions of the local or state authorities,” Sevilla said.

His statement did not address the Moses Lake reports.

The Moses Lake sighting occurred Monday on the shiny back of a sign at the corner of Washington 17 and Pioneer Way. By evening, hundreds of people came to look.

The soft, glowing outline reportedly radiated the colors found in traditional paintings of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico. Both the Yakima Valley and Moses Lake have large populations of Hispanics, many of them immigrants from Mexico.

An aqua and teal rainbow emanating from the sign inspired many to say prayers, light candles and sing hymns in Spanish.

“It’s a sign of peace,” Adrian Ochoa of Moses Lake told the Columbia Basin Herald. “What you see mostly depends on what you believe.”

Law officers apparently saw a safety hazard.

Washington State Patrol troopers told people to disperse at about 8 p.m. Monday. The sign was eventually removed by the state Department of Transportation.

“The sign was removed after the state patrol ordered us to take it down,” Rick Olson, a spokesman for the Transportation Department in Olympia, said Tuesday.

Later Tuesday, another Transportation Department official said the agency planned to return the sign and take steps to set up a roadside area where people can safely view the image.

“We received many calls from people complaining about it (the removal of the sign),” spokeswoman Clarissa Lundeen said.

Lundeen said the decision to remove the sign had been hasty. The sign likely will be returned within a couple days, she said.

The gatherings near Sunnyside began on Saturday after a city police officer said he saw a Madonna image on the unpainted back of a metal road sign on Washington 241 east of the city limits.

Within hours, thousands were arriving as the report spread by word of mouth among the predominantly Hispanic communities in the area.

A crowd of about 400 people was on hand Monday evening.

Most who gathered said the image resembled common depictions of the Virgin Mary with her hands folded in front of her heart and her head tilted slightly to one side.

There are no plans to remove any highway signs in the Yakima Valley, Leonard Pittman of the Transportation Department in Yakima said Tuesday. That could change if large crowds show up again next weekend, he said.

People are now reporting seeing the image on the backs of many of the large, green signs that signal highway exits and other landmarks, Pittman said.

All the directional signs are coated with the same chemical film to prevent oxidation and seem to radiate the same colors, Pittman said. A light-purple tint can form over stress points on the sign as time passes, Pittman said.