June 16 - 22, 2016
FREE
Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay HHHECRWSSHHH Postal Customer
IN THIS
ISSUE
Celebrating 21 years of The Northern Light, page 4
High school expansion goes forward without new grandstand
Active Seniors special section, pages 10-12
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Pet Care special section, pages 13-14
Hands Across the Border
By Oliver Lazenby
(See School, page 6)
s A troop of Girl Scouts plays on the Peace Arch monument during Hands Across the Border on June 12. The event drew dozens of Boy and Girl Scout troops from both sides of the border.
Photo by Steve Guntli
City council bans fireworks in Semiahmoo By Steve Guntli Blaine City Council has decided to restrict the use of fireworks around the city. After a lengthy public hearing, the council voted unanimously to pass two ordinances restricting the use of consumer fireworks on June 13. The first ordinance will ban the discharge of consumer fireworks in west Blaine. The second cuts the use of personal fireworks to one day, July 4, from 10 a.m. to midnight. Currently, the city allows fireworks to be discharged from July 1 through July 5. The changes to the city’s fireworks policies will take effect in June 2017. They will not affect the professional fireworks display over the harbor that is part of the Fourth of July festivities,
nor will they affect the ability to purchase legal fireworks in the city. The new ordinance places a full ban on consumer fireworks for all of Blaine west of Shintaffer Road, including all of Semiahmoo spit. The council also banned the shooting of fireworks on all publicly owned lands, including city parks, harbor properties and the school. It will still be legal to use fireworks in some public right of ways. The question of whether or not to restrict the use of consumer fireworks proved to be a controversial one. The council chambers were packed with citizens who came to voice their support or opposition to the proposed changes. Those in favor of the ban spoke against the noise, the fire risk and the debris left afterward; people against the ban argued fireworks were an integral Blaine tradition.
“The Fourth of July is a big part of our identity, and it’s a big part of the reason I bought a house here, one block from the (See Fireworks, page 7)
INSIDE
Crews will break ground this summer on a $38 million Blaine High School remodel, but it’s not quite what citizens voted on last February when they passed a $45 million bond to fund the project along with some other school district work. Bids on the project came in well over budget, so to keep the project in reach, the Blaine school district board of directors has voted to drop plans to replace grandstands that were originally part of the project. It would cost $3.4–4.2 million to keep them in the project. The decision, made unanimously at a June 8 special meeting, will push back grandstand construction for at least three years. Spee West Construction of Bothell won the contract with a bid of $29.75 million and will break ground at the high school this summer. The decision was made in a boardroom packed with high school football players, parents and other fans of Blaine athletics. Meeting attendees pointed out that the grandstands were presented as part of the bond, which voters passed by 70 percent last February. “Voters got this phenomenal colored brochure with the grandstand included in the items that we were going to build for our children, and now it’s completely on the back burner?” Angela Abshere asked at the meeting. Others expressed similar opinions. Several of the 20-plus football players in attendance said they would feel cheated if they voted on a bond and the construction didn’t include all the promised projects. “While we certainly understand the frustration and we feel it as well, the consequence of waiting longer is that all of this is going to cost even more,” district superintendent Ron Spanjer told the audience. “We do not want to be building an inferior facility that staff and the community are going to have to live with for generations. That’s the delicate balance in this.” Spanjer recommended that the board award the lowest bid and delay the grandstand project because the other option – redesigning the high school to pull out money for grandstands – would delay the whole project and likely make it more expensive. Any redesign would set the project back at least a year, since utilities will be turned
Letters . . . . . . . . . 5 Sports . . . . . . . . . . 6 Classifieds . . . . . 15 Police . . . . . . . . . 18 Coming Up . . . . . 18 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 18
TheNorthernLight.com TheNorthernLight
@TNLreporter
BIRCH BAY KITE FESTIVAL JUNE 18 & 19 10A.M.-2A.M.
C o me o u t & p l ay !
Birch Bay Beach Park 7930 Birch Bay Drive
www.BirchBayChamber.com See ad on Page 3 for more details
@PointRobertsPress