News in Brief

Blaine city utility bills will be going down again in October after city council gave the go ahead to pass along a decrease in the wholesale power rate from the Bonneville Power Administration.
“Our plan with the upcoming adjustment is to pass on the reduction to the community,” said Blaine public works director Steve Banham at the August 23 city council meeting. Under the current BPA contract the power wholesaler will adjust its rate every six months to reflect fluctuations in the volatile power market. In April 2004 they also handed over a reduction, which the city passed on to consumers. “In a day when a lot of energy prices are going up this is good news,” Banham said.

The city will likely have special regulations for users of motorized scooters this fall. “We are continuing to get more complaints,” police chief Mike Haslip told city council. Haslip said that 85 percent of those riding motorized scooters in Blaine are children under 15, a demographic which accounts for 40 percent of accidents on the scooters nationwide. There have been two serious accidents in Blaine, both involving adults who suffered head injuries and multiple fractures.
“People think they’re as safe as a bicycle but they’re faster with smaller wheels so they don’t have the same margin of error as a bicycle,” Haslip said. He said the school had already banned the scooters on campus for safety reasons and he was preparing city regulations that could incorporate age limits for riding the scooters and a requirement for safety equipment.