The Editor:
Wow! What an incredible day. On behalf of everyone involved in our Semiahmoo Quilt & Garden Show we want to extend a heartfelt thank you. More than 500 people strolled through our gardens, admired the beautiful quilts and crafts, and had a little snack — all to support our very own Blaine Food Bank.
We raised just over $1,200 in donations. Guests also arrived carrying more than 300 pounds of nonperishable food items.
We are incredibly grateful to everyone who attended, including those who volunteered with plant sales and to direct traffic and guide people through the gardens. I especially want to acknowledge the contributions of Ganga and Neal Engledow, who were the masterminds and hosts of this event. Thank you so much for your service to this community.
Till next year!
Donna Wendt
Blaine
The Editor:
On behalf of everyone at the Blaine Food Bank, our sincere thanks to the Good Ol’ Boys for their extraordinary generosity and commitment to helping our community through their annual golf tournament at Semiahmoo Golf & Country Club.
This year’s tournament was truly remarkable, raising more than $60,000 for the Blaine Food Bank, the largest fundraising total in the event’s history.
Even more impressive is the lasting impact they have made over the years. Through this tournament, the Good Ol’ Boys have raised more than $220,000 over the past five years to help ensure that our neighbors have access to nutritious food and essential support during challenging times. What an extraordinary example of giving back and making a difference in the lives of others.
Lisa Dobbin
Director of Blaine Food Bank
The Editor:
The elections in November may be the most decisive in decades. To enable as many people as possible to exercise their vote, Indivisibles 4th Corner of Blaine, Birch Bay and Custer are partnering with the League of Women Voters to hold voter registration sessions through August and into the fall.
If you have moved, changed your name or are simply curious about your voting status, please come to our display and chat with a trained volunteer and, if necessary, fill out the voter registration form.
On Saturday, Aug. 22, we will be outside the C Shop, 4825 Alderson Road, in Birch Bay from 1 to 3 p.m.
On Friday, Aug. 28, and Friday, Sept. 4, we will be at the Blaine Community/Senior Center, 763 G St., from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For immediate questions, please phone the election division of the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office at 360-778-5102.
Graham Hunter
Blaine
The Editor:
There is a uniqueness about every city in the world, large or small, and Blaine is no exception. One of the attributes of Blaine’s uniqueness is Drayton Harbor, and its history. Part of that history is the Alaska Packers cannery. The Inn At Semiahmoo was built from some of the original cannery buildings and designed to recollect the cannery.
The old water tower that served the cannery still stands. It’s an identity landmark for Blaine. Over the years I served on Blaine City Council and the Blaine Planning Commission, there were periodic threats to the tower, but they were thwarted by the people of Blaine. Now, there is another Blaine landmark under threat: M.V. Plover, the ferry that served the cannery. (The Plover is on the National Register of Historic Landmarks; the water tower is not.)
The Plover’s existence is threatened by a lack of funding, as all historic ships are. The city says that there is no money for Plover. Really? I apprehend that if one duplicative “study” was omitted,the Plover might be funded by the city for a year.
The city wants the Plover to vanish at the end of August. Why? She has free moorage from the Port of Bellingham. But she needs insurance to stay at her moorage — Port policy. Cannot the city find the funds to insure the Plover until some solution to her overarching financial difficulty be devised? Will she be scuttled for a mere $1,000, the cost of the premium? What price, posterity?
It has been suggested that the Plover could be taken out of the water Sept. 1. She can’t be. She’s wooden. The wood will shrink and her hull will “die.” So, rule that out. We need a pause — a stay of execution — until a solution is found. The price? $1,000.
Ken Ely
Blaine
