Well, as it turns out, I believe I have solved this issue. I haven't had the problem for several days now. I can explain what I did to fix it, but maybe someone can explain
WHY...
MSN Messenger was enabled when I first got the phone. I set it up with my messenger name and login and all was well. I decided like all Windows OS's that after I played with all the tweaks, it was in need to a refresh. So... I performed a hard ROM reset and started from scratch.
Apparently, the issue with the backlight was related to my Messenger setup prior to the wipe. When I initiated the wipe, I was signed into messenger on the Mobile device. Since the wipe, I had the backlight coming on randomly and then going off, day and night no matter the power configuration.
This went on for two days. I found an obscure web page alluding to the issue and saying it was tied to the messenger client and how if it was running when the device was wiped, the problem arose.
I realized that since I had wiped the device, I had not logged into messenger on my desktop. So, I logged in on my desktop, which would log any other sessions off, and VOILA! my handheld issue with the backlight stopped imediately.
I am assuming that somehow there was a ping from the carrier to my device, left open from the messenger session which was running at the time of the device wipe.
2.5 days and counting and no issue.
