Letters to the Editor

The Editor:
Regarding the proposed new jail – just a short note to thank you for your efforts in helping educate the public about this most pressing and critical situation. We received a lot of very positive feedback as a result of the recent articles that were also very complimentary about your coverage. Thanks.
Bill Elfo
Blaine

The Editor:
Blaine, Blaine, Blaine - developers are poised to build 36 new deluxe condos on Semiahmoo spit. (The department of community planning just ruled that an environmental impact statement is not necessary, so the project moves ahead.) Relatively few towns have the opportunity to allow such a jewel to be (further) despoiled. I’m an outsider, so at least I won’t have to look at that pile of warts growing across the water. I’m saddened that my reasons for visiting your pleasant corner of the county are evaporating – and I suspect a lot of the migrating birds that move through semiannually will likewise vote with their wings – if they can find alternatives. Otherwise, of course, they’ll just die off.
Jeff Borsecnik
Bellingham

The Editor:
To whoever stole (between October 28 and 31) the election sign planted in my front yard: shame on you! Not only have you trampled on my constitutional First Amendment right to free speech, but you have disgraced yourself and committed legal crimes (of trespassing, and theft of private property). However, because the Bible commands me, I must forgive you: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Just don’t do it again. God bless America!
Jeanne Halsey
Blaine

The Editor:
You don’t have to be a tree hugger to be stunned by the carnage at 1721 Fern Street. This sight of 500 perfect California Redwood and fir trees planted in perfect rows and documented in my grandfather’s diary 50 plus years ago, cut to the stumps. Time is of the essence to remove any evidence that this amazing phenomenon was ever there. This amazing redwood forest puts any Blaine park to shame. The cost of the airport now has gone so much farther than money. The enormous sacrifice the Evans family made should be commended. It’s hard to believe there was no alternative. Please don’t hesitate to drive up there and take a look before it’s all gone. Only a government could ever have gotten away with it.
Caryn Evans Johnson
Blaine

The Editor:
We are very pleased to read that Blaine council members have agreed to an intensive planning session to prevent Blaine developing on a “project-by-project” basis.
Now, if they would just devote the same kind of attention to preventing Semiahmoo spit developing in the same manner, perhaps we could preserve something really meaningful for the future of Blaine.
We recognize that a great deal of work has gone into the SEPA threshold determination for the Sea Grass Cottages on the spit. Certainly, 27 mitigating conditions are a beginning but, surely, to be scientifically meaningful and accurate, this review must include any developer’s future plans for the balance of their spit holdings. How, for example, can any association evaluate the potential impact of one project, on seabirds and waterfowl, without knowing what is to happen to the reminder of the spit?
That is why we are petitioning the city to appoint a citizen’s committee to study the whole of the spit and look into the feasibility of acquisition of certain parcels, as dedicated permanent open space, once the real value of this land is determined. We would like to thank everyone for signing our petition and we would invite anyone who has not done this to contact us at: 371-4338, Trevor Hoskins, or 371-5231, Ron Miller.
One council member has already described our efforts as creating “uninformed public uproar, occupying and wasting community time.” We would like to assure councilman Ken Ely that we plan to continue. For the council to act on a 20-year-old Semiahmoo master plan, which mentions nothing about the realigning of a public road on the spit, is also uninformed in our opinion.
Sadly, when Blaine annexed Semiahmoo to obtain considerable tax benefits, no consideration appears to have been given to a “protected corridor” between the two locations. Consequently, it seems that Birch Bay and Whatcom County may do anything they please with the land that surrounds this island and our only link is therefore the fragile spit. We would hate to see this further destroyed.
We hope that as many citizens as possible will reply to both the SEPA threshold determination and then attend the Blaine planning commission public hearing which, we understand, is to be held on January 13. We also encourage your presence at the council pubic hearing on the Seagrass Cottages, at a date to be determined in the new year.
Again, thank you all for you support.
Trevor Hoskins & Ron Miller
Blaine

The Editor:
Hey people of Blaine – wake up and smell the roses, or lack thereof.
The proposed rate increase they are trying to shove down your throats, are just another way for this city to make you, the taxpayers, pay for their mistakes.
The millions of dollars they have lost in litigation to the Indians over the debacle at the Semiahmoo treatment plant brought about because of the ineptitude of the former city manager and former mayor Hobberlin and their inability to listen to those of us who were on the council at that time, who said don’t put it there, is the cause of what they are trying to stick it to you with now.
You have not yet come to realize that paying a city manager $112,000 a year to run a town of 3,800 is beyond ridiculous, it’s lunacy, especially when the county executive earns less for managing a lot more.
You need to band together and make this city and its administration pay for their own mistakes instead of putting it on your backs.
Think about how this is going to impact the seniors and people on limited income, as well as single people who don’t flush enough to make any impact. This system is very flawed and they refuse to entertain ideas from anyone who disagrees with their tax and spend philosophy.
Dave White
Blaine

The Editor:
Thank you to everyone who made the grand opening of our new location a fabulous success.
Your support, well wishes and the fun we had was amazing. What a great community.
Adrienne Papa & Dianne Meichsner,
Petal Attractions,
Blaine

The Editor:
Semiahmoo spit - what a beautiful place! The jewel of Birch Bay and Blaine.
How can we as a community allow our natural wonder to be built on? Seventy-two units of residential development can never be mitigated into non-significance - who is kidding who? Contact Terry Galvin, city of Blaine, by November 10.
Martin Mulholland
Birch Bay

The Editor:
The Sixty-Five Sisterhood of Helping Hands (Sshhh) would like to thank Eleanor Barnett, Les and Nancy DePaw and Ted and Pat Provencher for their generous contributions of sellable items for our annual garage sale held at Birch Bay Village. A special thanks to Mike Dodd of the Blaine Marina for his contribution of several pieces of furniture and for the use of Blaine Marina’s moving van.
We were able to raise nearly $900, all of which is donated to local charities. In 2004, Sshhh gave the Blaine primary and elementary schools $400, the Blaine Thanksgiving fund, $300, and $300 to the Lions Club for sending gift bags to the troops in Iraq.
If anyone would like to contribute garage sale items to Sshhh, please contact Candis Haws, 371-2090; Jan Boykin, 332-8411; Carrilee Fischer, 332-8534; Marie Dohner, 332-6843; Diana Seeklander, 371-9165; Brooke Finley, 371-2157 or Barbara Love, 318-8140. Sshhh welcomes any size contribution from a single box to an entire household and are more than happy to pick the items up.
Once again, many thanks to the very special people who make our garage sale possible.
Carrilee Fischer c/o The Sixty
Five SisterHood of Helping Hands
Blaine

The Editor:
I would like to extend my sincere appreciation of Vivian Bleecker’s review of my book, The League That Lasted, in your October 21- 27 issue of The Northern Light.
The book is presently available at www.mcfarlandpub.com. It will also be available during a book signing tour which is slated to begin in January. Anyone wanting their copy signed for the coming holiday season can email me at www.leaneilmac.com.
I thank all of you who have shown an interest in my work.
Neil Macdonald
Blaine

The Editor:
Thanksgiving is only three weeks off and the Community Assistance Program Thanksgiving Basket effort is shifting into action. We need the financial support of the community to feed the needy of the community.
Last year we provided 150 Thanksgiving dinner baskets complete with a turkey, pies and all the trimmings for a full Thanksgiving dinner to needy families in the Blaine, Birch Bay, Custer and Point Roberts area. The average retail cost for one of these baskets would have been $51. Baskets vary in size with the number in the family. Summing up for last year, as a result of the generosity of the wonderful people here over 400 children and 250 adults had reason to be thankful for your caring about them.
That was last year. This year, with more needy families due to unemployment increasing and more outsourcing of jobs, we are planning on giving out 175 Thanksgiving dinners.
But we need your financial help. Please send your tax deductible contributions to: The CAP Thanksgiving Fund, P.O. Box 339, Blaine WA 98231, or drop it by Costcutter, Bank or America or Sterling Bank and put it in the collections being taken there.
In addition, there will be collection sites and displays at various businesses around town that you may use. All contributions will go directly for buying food. Your generosity will be helping to reduce hunger in the holidays for those less fortunate in our community. Please send your contribution.
Needy families should contact family services at 332-0740 to get on the dinner list. People on the list will be contacted for arrangements for pick-up. Thanksgiving dinner baskets will be given out to those on the list on Wednesday afternoon November 24 from 1 - 5 p.m. at the old Radio Shack storefront opposite Costcutter in Blaine.
The Community Assistance Program is a joint outreach program of the Peace Arch Christian Ministerial Association and the city of Blaine.
Again, thank you for caring for our needy.
Brent Brentnall
Director, Community
Assistance Program
Blaine

Letters Policy
The Northern Light welcomes letters to the editor; however, the opinions expressed are not those of the editor. Letters must include name, address and daytime telephone number for verification. Letters must not exceed 350 words and may be edited or rejected for reasons of legality, length and good taste. Thank-you letters should be limited to 10 names. A fresh viewpoint on matters of general interest to local readers will increase the likelihood of publication. Writers should avoid personal invective. Unsigned letters will not be accepted for publication. Requests for withholding names will be considered on an individual basis. Only one letter per month from an individual correspondent will be published.

Please send your letter to:
225 Marine Drive, Blaine, WA 98230 or fax 360/332-2777.
E-mail:editor@thenorthernlight.com

Letters Policy

The Northern Light welcomes letters to the editor; however, the opinions expressed are not those of the editor. Letters must include name, address and daytime telephone number for verification. Letters must not exceed 350 words and may be edited or rejected for reasons of legality, length and good taste. Thank you letters are limited to five individuals or groups. A fresh viewpoint on matters of general interest to local readers will increase the likelihood of publication. Writers should avoid personal invective. Unsigned letters will not be accepted for publication. Requests for withholding names will be considered on an individual basis. Only one letter per month from an individual correspondent will be published.

Please email letters to letters@thenorthernlight.com