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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay
June 18 - 24, 2015
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IN THIS
ISSUE
Animals as therapy, pages 8-9
Birch Bay resident wins world curling gold, pages 10-11
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Sailors restoring vintage sailboat, pages 18-19
Hands Across the Border 5
20
International Arts and Music Festival returns to Peace Arch park By Steve Guntli The International Arts and Music Festival returns to Peace Arch State Park June 26–28. Now entering its third year, the festival is a celebration of music, food and art from throughout the U.S. and Canada. Nearly 50 artists are slated to display their work in Peace Arch Park. While Blaine artists will make a strong showing with about 10 artists attending, several artists are traveling from throughout Washington, Canada and the U.S. to attend. Artwork ranges from paintings and sculptures to jewelry, fused glass and mixed media pieces. In addition to the many shopping opportunities, six artists will give demonstrations on their craft: Metal artist Natalie Brown will display her techniques for crafting unusual metal sculptures; sculptor Brian Reed will create a large pot over the weekend; Frank Goss will give a demonstration on hand engraving; Kasydy and Dave Elliot will demonstrate how they create unique dolls and sculptures; and painter Kristi Huffey will be working on some of her pieces. Café Rumba and Catch Culinaire will provide food for the festival. Catch Culinaire is returning for the second time after a positive response last year. Chefs Cory Hurrelbrink and Andrew Tucker specialize in using local ingredients to produce casual food with gourmet quality. Café Rumba is a Peruvian deli based out of Bellingham. The restaurant specializes in spicy, authentic Peruvian sandwiches. Beverages from Samson Estates Winery, Aslan Brewery and many others will be on tap at the festival’s beer and wine garden. This year’s musical performers will play an eclectic blend of styles from around the world. Tiller’s Folly, one of Canada’s most popular Celtic music groups, will play all three days of the festival. Latin music (See Arts, page 6)
s Crowds filled Peace Arch Park on June 14 for the revival of Hands Across the Border. The event, which was shut down in 2013, was brought back after numerous requests and a Facebook poll. See more photos on pages 12–13.
Photo by Steve Guntli
Bellingham rejects cost-sharing agreement for county jail By Steve Guntli Bellingham City Council rejected a cost-sharing agreement for the new county jail project. At the council’s regular meeting on June 15, the council voted 6–1 against the cost-sharing agreement with Whatcom County, with only councilmember Gene Knutson in favor. On June 9, Whatcom County Council passed a jail cost-sharing agreement 6–1, but council members expressed doubt that Bellingham council would approve it. The agreement calls for a countywide ballot measure to authorize a .2 percent sales tax to repay $97 million in bonds to build and operate the jail. The total cost of the jail is estimated at $122.5 million. The sales tax would go towards funding the jail for the first few years. After that, the cities would share 40 percent of the revenue generated from the new facility, based on each city’s population. The county and five other cities have already agreed to the program, but Bellingham council members have been reluctant to embrace the agreement,
saying the sales tax would put too great a burden on lower-income citizens and would prevent Bellingham from raising sales taxes for the next 30 years. State law allows up to .3 percent sales tax increases for health, safety and criminal justice. A .1 percent sales tax, approved by Bellingham voters in 2004 for jail facilities, is still in effect. Bellingham mayor Kelli Linville expressed concerns that implementing the new tax would limit the city’s options when dealing with its own public health and safety needs. County executive Jack Louws was pushing to get the measure added to the ballot for the August primary, but that deadline has now passed. Bellingham City Council members emphasized they were in favor of the new jail, but the cost-sharing agreement needs to be revised. Bellingham city attorney Peter Ruffatto proposed several principles to amend the agreement going forward, including equitable contributions to the operation and funding of the jail based on who uses the facility and prevention and diversion programs implemented into any funding agreements. Council member Michael Lilliquist
added the agreement must allow Bellingham to address its health and safety needs. Bellingham’s decision puts the ball back into Whatcom County Council’s court. The current county jail facility houses 298 inmates and has been suffering from overcrowding. The new jail has been in the planning stages since 2011. When built, the new facility, located on Labounty Road in Ferndale, will have 521 beds, medical and mental health care centers, outdoor recreation space and special needs housing.
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Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Police . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Coming Up . . . . . . . . . . 17 Tides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17