The Editor:
Local news that’s trusted and accessible to everyone without paywall is essential to the health of a community. Salish Current was founded and operates with those principles serving local communities, and will work with other groups and stakeholders to support local news in The Northern Light’s community readership area.
Amy Nelson, Salish Current publisher and co-founder
Bellingham
The Editor:
Dear good people of Blaine, Point Roberts, Semiahmoo and Birch Bay,
I am impressed by the long history of news coverage serving your communities. In fact, I was not aware until recently of the newspaper legacy in your region of our state!
La Conner, where I have loved living since 2007, also has a historical news presence with the longest continuous publication of a weekly newspaper in our state. That status could have changed at the end of 2024 were it not for a group of community members who came together, committed to keeping news alive in our small but mighty town and surrounding communities, including the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.
That perseverance was met with vision, smarts, talent and drive by current publisher and editor-in-chief Kari Mar, who listened and heard how much we value our local, printed paper. Fast forward to early 2025, and we were seeing an email newsletter and website from La Conner Community News.
Then the first weekly issue began publishing in March!
I am excited for you all that The Northern Light will continue publishing so that you can continue to read local news that matters, about the people, services and happenings that you would not find covered elsewhere.
We are excited to be working with you!
Onward!
Susan Macek, board member of La Conner Community News
La Conner
The Editor:
I am writing to say “Thank you” to Pat Grubb for all your years of wonderful, heartfelt, award-winning service at the helm of publishing and managing The Northern Light.
I have lived in Birch Bay for the past 22 years and had the privilege of meeting you many, many years ago. You were and have always been a person of integrity with such a positive, uplifting energy and a very honest, sincere and gentle approach. A bright light for others to follow.
So, thank you, thank you again, and may you and your family be blessed with a wonderful, enjoyable, happily fulfilling life in whatever you choose to do going forward.
Cindy Kisska
Birch Bay
The Editor:
I met Rex Allison on an autumn day in Seattle, while relaxing on a bench in the arboretum. His easy manner of striking up a conversation, coupled with his genuinely curious array of questions, endeared and impressed me immediately.
In an era of instant gratification, of text messages, sound bites and video shorts, the manner in which this seasoned reporter drew stories, facts and feelings out of me, still impresses me.
Nowadays Rex does the same with the bright, young caregivers who help him through the daily ordeals of Parkinson’s. He asks them all about their lives. And we all get to know precious details about one another.
In the days of waning newspapers, I wonder how much this skill is lost. So many talk and talk about themselves. Fewer bother to listen. Even fewer inquire for more.
Rex has worked on papers small and large throughout the state of Washington. Though his most cherished memories, and some of his most interesting stories, lay with the smaller neighborhood papers, one of which was the Westside Record Journal out of Ferndale in the ’80s.
In light of the recent save of The Northern Light, I celebrate my husband, the aging reporter, who still receives his daily newspaper at our doorstep and starts his day lost in its pages.
Teresa Verde
Birch Bay
The Editor:
Back in April 2025, I organized a U.S./Canada solidarity rally at Peace Arch Park with other activists from both sides of the border. In the process I contacted U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials to advise them of the event, in order to avoid any kerfuffle. As has always been my experience with our border security, I was rather formally assured by a supervisor that we were welcome to assert First Amendment rights and that he appreciated the heads up.
I was also counseled that attendees should enter and leave the park from the same access points, and that no interchange of material should take place (one of my takeaways is that Peace Arch Park is diligently and appropriately surveilled); instructions I included in the promotional materials and reiterated in the welcoming remarks to the attendees.
By all accounts, the event was meaningful to the participants, and there were no incidents that detracted from a peaceful affirmation of international goodwill and the merits of mutual collaboration.
Now, nearly a year later, as a civilian, I’m clueless if the mission of our “border town” Customs and Border Protection agents has been corrupted by the Trump administration and Homeland Security’s abuse of fundamental civil and human rights.
These agents perform a crucial role for our safety. They are our neighbors and friends as well as our protectors. I’d like to think that the busiest northern border crossing between the Pacific and Detroit, between two counties long wedded in redeeming values and mutual support, and the long-standing respectful and no BS professionalism and commitment to service to our nation and community of our CBP force, still protects us with with the integrity of their oath of office.
If so, thanks.
Bob Edwardsen
Birch Bay
