September 2018
IN THIS
ISSUE
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Hospital district moving ahead, page 6
Tomsen continues to run up the bill, page 7
ECRWSS PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 14
FREE
Mini-crime wave hits the Point, page 12
Point Roberts, WA 98281 Postal Patron Local
Buyout sought And a new library is born... on Baker Field cell tower lease By Meg Olson Park district commissioners are considering a buyout proposal for their lease with the company that owns the Verizon cell phone tower. At their August 13 meeting commissioner Bennett Blaustein reported that Landmark Dividend, a company that specializes in ground lease acquisitions, was “really pushing” to buy out the lease the district entered into with SBA Communications in 2011. SBA has also approached the district with a lease buyout offer. The lease currently pays the district $1,250 per month and contains a clause for inflation adjustments for the term of the agreement. Unsure of the length of the term, commissioners asked secretary Lynn VanBuskirk to have a copy of the lease for discussion at their September meeting. “We would get a lump sum,” Blaustein said, with initial numbers being suggested in the $200,000-$250,000 range. The land would remain the property of the park district and when the lease expired it could be renegotiated or terminated. Blaustein asked commissioner Stephen Falk to look into the proposal with him. “It looks to me like it might be the right thing to do but I want to make sure it helps the community,” he said. “I would go for a bird in the hand,” agreed commissioner Linda Hughes. She added that having the money now could allow for future investments or to enhance the park system with improvements or land acquisition. Blaustein said with cellular technology changing, the value of the tower could diminish in coming years. In 2017, he said, over 60 percent of Verizon’s new deployment was using small-cell technology rather than tower installations. “All of the cellular companies are starting to move to small cell technology and when they do they won’t need towers,” he said.
s With the snip from a large pair of scissors, Whatcom County Library Board of Trustees chair Marvin Waschke officially opened the new Point Roberts Library on August 11. More photos at allpointbulletin.com Photo by Louise Mugar
Lighthouse Marine Park dock puzzling engineers By Meg Olson Whatcom County parks engineers are scratching their heads trying to figure out how to design a long-lasting dock for Lighthouse Marine Park. In July, the dock was taken out again after “stress cracking” was discovered throughout the structure, according to parks design and development supervisor Rod Lamb. “This was the third time it was in the
water,” Lamb confirmed. The dock was originally launched in 2015 to replace the old wooden dock that was removed from service in 2009. It failed after a month in the water and the county spent $27,000 in materials to repair it, sharing the rest of the costs with the dock manufacturer and installer. It was back in the water in mid2016 and survived the 2017 season before the current damage caused the county to pull it for public safety reasons. So why can’t a new dock be built to
withstand the same conditions the old wood and floatation foam dock put up with for 16 years with minimal annual maintenance? “It’s different than the last time,” Lamb said. “There are new requirements the old dock didn’t need to meet,” such as allowing light to penetrate to the water below. Lamb said engineers were reevaluating the design and costing out alternatives. “We will do some analysis,” Lamb said. (See Dock, page 3)
Democratic turnout key to Republican headwinds By
P a t G r u bb
The three state district 42 races for senator and representatives in the 2018 primary showed that the current Republican incumbents have a headwind against them in the upcoming general election in November. What accounts for this turn of affairs? Were Republican voters content to let their mail-in ballots sit on the kitchen counter or were Democrats more energized than usual this go-around? Comparing countywide primary results in state representative races in 2016 ver-
sus 2018, there were 32,490 and 32,084 total votes cast in the seats held by Luanne Van Werven and Vincent Buys respectively in 2016. In 2018, there were 41,578 and 41,520 total countywide votes cast in the same races. Republican votes increased 9.4 percent for Van Werven (18,409 in 2018 vs. 16,834 in 2016) and 14 percent for Buys (19,808 in 2018 vs. 17,408 in 2016) so Republican apathy isn’t an issue, it seems. The big news is Democratic turnout. Democratic votes in the Van Werven race
in 2018 increased 61 percent countywide (21,101 in 2018 vs. 13,082 in 2016) and 99 percent in the Buys race (21,712 in 2018 vs. 10,867 in 2016). While state senator Doug Ericksen wasn’t up for election in 2016, results from the 2018 primary show he too has a tough horse race ahead of him. He received 19,147 votes in this primary while his two Democratic challengers combined had 22,620 votes, 3,473 more than him. Ericksen is going to need some fancy silver spurs come November.
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Inside
Church ............................................... 9 Classifieds ......................................... 20 Coming Up ....................................... 17 Crossings ............................................ 3 Library, Obituaries .......................... 18 Opinion ............................................... 4 Seniors ............................................. 19 Tides ................................................. 19