March 9 - 15, 2017
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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay HHHECRWSSHHH Postal Customer
IN THIS
ISSUE
Pianist Bob Milne set to Senator Doug Ericksen hosts perform in Blaine, page 3 town hall meeting, page 13
Emergency preparedness expo slated for March 25
SPRING FORWARD!
Don’t forget to set your clocks forward this Sunday!
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Wings Over Water Northwest Birding Festival begins Friday
B y S t e fa n i e D o n a h u e
(See Expo, page 2)
s The 15th annual Wings Over Water Northwest Birding Festival takes place this Friday through Sunday, March 10–12. The event features wildlife field trips, live presentations, photography workshops, exhibitions, displays, speakers and more. To learn more about the event, visit wingsoverwaterbirdingfestival.com. Photo by Joe Meche
School district has plan to make up for lost construction days By Oliver Lazenby Contractors working on the Blaine High School renovation and replacement project lost 22 workdays due to the cold, but construction could be back on schedule soon. The main contractor, Spee West Construction, is already working on a plan to make up for lost time, district project manager Jim Kenoyer told the Blaine school board at its March 6 meeting. For the last four weeks, the site has been filled with extra workers and people working overtime, he said. “Instead of three steelworkers there are six
or seven there, for example,” Kenoyer said. “We’re hoping to be back on track by about the third week of April.” Cold temperatures delayed construction of the masonry block walls, since mortar for the blocks needs to be at least 40 degrees to be workable. Even as crews worked to get back on track, they lost a day on Monday, February 27, when snow dusted the school. Kenoyer hopes to get back on schedule as soon as possible, before the more complicated finishing stages. Toward the end of this phase of construction, two to three dozen contractors will be on site, making any time
Voice of Blaine basketball retires after 30 years By Oliver Lazenby If you’ve attended a Blaine basketball home game since the Reagan administration, chances are you’ve heard John Liebert’s voice on the microphone after every basket. Liebert, a former Blaine teacher and middle school basketball coach, plans to keep attending Blaine games, but he put down the microphone for the last time in February, concluding a career that encompassed some of the most exciting
years in Blaine basketball history. He saw Blaine teams win two state championships, and finish second and third. Though the excitement surrounding Blaine basketball has faded since the 1990s, Liebert continued to enjoy the job even when Blaine teams weren’t finishing near the top. “It’s been a fun run,” said Liebert, who is 75. “I enjoy being around young people. It’s what keeps me young.” The former Blaine teacher started going to games in the late ’80s, when his
son Jared was on the team. Liebert, who had coached basketball for 20 years in North Dakota before moving his family to Blaine, would often hover near the bench to give his son unsolicited advice. “John was a pretty excitable parent back in the day,” said Rob Ridnour, the Borderites head coach at the time. He proved to be too excitable, so he picked up the microphone as a way to stay involved. He started with the boys’ team (See Liebert, page 7)
gains or extra workers harder to orchestrate, he said. “The idea is to get caught up while we just have block workers, steel workers and electricians,” Kenoyer said. “We don’t want to let the schedule lag so that we’re behind schedule when we get into all the specialty trades.” Phase one of the roughly $38 million project is scheduled to be done in August 2017, and will include a cafeteria, theater, career technical education shop, classroom space, kitchen, band and choir rooms, greenhouse (See Work, page 2)
INSIDE
Are you prepared for an emergency? If you answered “no” to that question, folks with NorthWest Emergency Preparedness (NWEP) encourage you to stop by an upcoming emergency preparedness expo. The event is free and takes place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 25 at the Blaine Pavilion, located at 763 G Street. “Most emergency events aren’t something you can schedule and be immediately prepared for,” said Richard Martin, director of the Blaine-based nonprofit. That very notion is what prompted him to found the organization in 2011. Since then, NWEP has grown its core volunteer base to about 10 members who help lead monthly meetings about emergency preparedness planning. Martin pulls his experience from years of service in the U.S. Air Force as an intelligence operations specialist. Later in his career, he worked as a licensed private investigator and went on to establish a training company that specialized in personal security. In 2005, Martin, his wife and young daughter endured hurricanes Katrina and Rita after relocating to Baton Rouge from his home state of Arizona in 1998. The storms resulted in hundreds of deaths and left thousands without a place to call home. The experience sparked Martin’s desire to start becoming better prepared to care for his family in the event of an emergency. However, when they moved to Blaine in 2011, he didn’t find what he was looking for. That same year, Martin founded NWEP with a mission to educate the public about region-specific emergency preparedness with historic data and expert sources. “I really enjoy helping people,” he said. “And I’m a complete information junkie.” Since its founding, NWEP has maintained a presence in the community at events and monthly meetings. The group’s
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