White is walking tall

Toward the end of each month you might catch a man walking around downtown Sidney at a height twice that of a normal person.

Ty White’s height however is not due to giant genes or a major growth spurt during high school; instead he conducts projects around the city on his pair of stilts.

White recently was recruited by members of the Cheyenne County Ladies Chamber to put up and change the festive street decorations drivers see on the light poles around the downtown area.

His mother, Shirley White, has been a member of the Ladies Chamber for the past four years and said she “conned” her son into helping her hang the decorations one day and he has volunteered his stilt services for the last two decoration hangings.

The Ladies Chamber has been putting up the decorations for years and members of the chamber said that the new system is very effective.

“I told him I needed help and instead of me climbing on the ladder I asked if he would do it for me,” said the mother.

Ty agreed, and instead of climbing up the ladder she provided him, he pulled out his own special tools from his vehicle to approach the task with.

“It turned out that particular day it was only us four,” she said. “Just Ty and I, and Gene and Margaret.

“Gene and Margaret put what they wanted up by each pole and Ty suddenly pulled out these stilts.

“I said ‘What are you doing?’ and he said ‘I’m not climbing the ladder. You just hand it up to me and I’ll take the others down,’” said White.

That was the beginning of Ty’s new stilt job.

“Before, us ladies had to con our husbands into doing it,” said White.

She explained that because some of the husbands were older, it was difficult for them climbing up and down the ladder, and Gene Lienemann said that before Ty came along he was having to do most of the climbing and decorating himself.

“Since Ty came home I thought maybe I could con him into helping me and he did,” she said. “So now he just puts on his stilts and goes from pole to pole.

“Gene and Margaret have whatever is suppose to be hung there so he takes down the old, I hand him the new, and we move to the next pole and then they come around, pick up the old, and put it back into storage. It’s effective”

White said that her son first became acquainted with using stilts approximately 10 years ago when he worked construction jobs, and that he is pretty experienced in using them.

“He use to walk up and down steps and what not carrying concrete and things, so he really knows how to walk on those stilts,” she said.

The mother said that Ty decided that the construction business was not for him, but that the stilts would stay.

White said that she believes that the downtown decorations are important to the Sidney community and give community members something to think about.

“It gives people something to look at and reflect on,” she said. “I mean like right now the stars and stripes are kind of appropriate for independence, and with everything going on right now with the bombings in Boston and events like that, it reminds us and puts our thinking back into perspective.

“Like when you are sitting at the stoplight and you look at the decorations, it gives you time to think,” she said.

White said that she likes the new technique that Ty has brought to decoration hanging, and that he has received a lot reactions from the public passing by as well.

“He gets lots of offers to put up sheet rock for people,” laughed the mother. “Or people will ask him to paint their ceiling. But he’s a busy person, so he politely tells them ‘No thank you.’”