Birch Bay Golf Club scheduled for auction

By Jack Kintner

The 18-hole Birch Bay Golf Club will be auctioned off by sheriff’s deputy Kevin Moyes on November 5 to settle a $20 million debt owed by owners Jim and Ruth Trull of Birch Bay. The property to be auctioned includes the building that houses Stephani’s Restaurant as well as a 210-acre parcel of land in Custer intended at one time to be a business park.

According to Leah McIntyre of the Whatcom County Treasurer’s office, the Trulls also owe $108,668 in unpaid property taxes on the two parcels going back to 2002.

According to Moyes, the Trull’s major creditor is the Confederated Tribes of the Community of Grande Ronde in eastern Oregon. The tribe sued the Trulls in 2003 for back interest and loan payments, and last August 16 a money judgment foreclosure was filed in Whatcom County Superior Court. In September, Superior Court Commissioner Chuck Snyder signed a court order authorizing the auction to be carried out by Moyes, the sheriff’s chief civil deputy.

McIntyre said that the county waits three years before initiating proceedings against owners of property on which taxes are delinquent. The treasurer’s office had not been informed of the proceedings initiated by the Indian tribe when interviewed Tuesday, October 12.
When contacted, Trull declined to comment, citing legal proceedings underway.

Moyes said that unless Trull pays off the debt, the auction will take place at 9:30 a.m. November 5 in the county courthouse rotunda in Bellingham. The tribe will have the option of making the first bid for the amount they are owed.