Briefs

Pancake breakfast raises local scholarship funds

The Northwest Whatcom Professional Firefighters union IAFF Local 3867 has scheduled a pancake breakfast from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., Saturday, July 21 at the Birch Bay fire station (No. 63) at 4581 Birch Bay-Lynden Road in Blaine.

The breakfast will be by donation and the proceeds will benefit the chapter’s high school scholarship program.

The scholarship, presented annually to graduating Blaine seniors, is available to students entering the fields of fire service, emergency services or medicine.

For more information, call 371-2533 or 332-2192.

Head Start offered to Blaine youth

Early Childhood Opportunities NW is recruiting children aged birth to 5 and their families for free Head Start services, including preschool, in Blaine at the Northwest Community Church at 508 G Street. The organization serves 18 families each year and has several openings for fall.

Services are offered at no cost for low-income preschool children that include classroom four mornings each week, support for families and parent activities. Programming for infants and toddlers and their families is a home visit each week with parent child socializations twice per month. Families who are low-income qualify for services and can receive an application by calling 734-8396.

Flight museum schedules open house Saturday

The Heritage Flight Museum, at Bellingham International Airport, will hold its monthly open house from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 21.

This month’s event spotlights the aircraft in the collection that represent the Viet Nam conflict, including the 0-1 Birddog, the O-2 Skymaster and the AD4 Skyraider.

The “Future Flyers” kids area will have arts and crafts materials available for designing and building airplanes, in addition to other aviation-themed activities. Participants will be encouraged to display and talk about their finished models. HFM houses a collection of flying World War II, Korean and Viet Nam era aircraft, including a Mustang, Skyraider, T-6, PT-19, Stearman, M*A*S*H Helicopter, 0-2 and L-19. Admission is by donation. For more information about the Museum, visit www.heritageflight.org.

School district budget available

Copies of the Blaine school district’s 2007-2008 annual budget are available in the district office beginning this month. The office is located at 765 H Street and can be reached by calling 332-5881.

New border cameras provide up-to-date wait times
Wait times at the border may be long but new cameras near Blaine and Lynden border crossings will allow the Washington State Department of Transportation to broadcast more accurate border wait times.
Beginning this Thursday, WSDOT crews will install 10 new cameras and traffic detecting equipment at Blaine, Lynden and Sumas, three of Whatcom County’s four busy border crossings.

The new equipment will allow WSDOT to broadcast more border information and wait times on roadside signs, radios and the Web, taking the guesswork out of choosing the quickest border crossing
WSDOT awarded the $2 million project contract to Valley Electric Co. of Mount Vernon to install the cameras, data loops and a highway advisory radio. Valley Electric’s bid was $51,000 less than the engineers’ estimate. The project is scheduled to be completed in September and most of the work will be along highway shoulders and not in the driving lanes, department officials said. Drivers, however, can expect a few daytime lane closures and nighttime ramp closures. Drivers should expect minimal delays during construction.

By Tara Nelson