electrical gremlin - interior lights always on

holy miss-direction barracuda man.

The broken cable - which looked cut was a wild goose chase - who knows how long that has been like that - I just know it has been there since I messed with the column. And will not be going back into the car

It was suggested it could be the door sensor - I pulled the passenger side - wire was broken - but appeared to have been broken a long time. So I traced that nice bright yellow wire - dash light and on to the block. Wait - the wire was tight against the inner lip - and got bolted down when I installed the new oil/water temp gauges. Fixed the wire - be gone gremlin

Now I have to put everything back together - but it will be easier because of success

thank you everyone who helped