May 27 - June 2, 2021
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IN THIS
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Who filed for the August primary election, page 5
No layoffs planned at school district, page 6
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Loads of Love sees greater demand, page 15
Kids learn bike safety in Birch Bay U.S./Canada border to reopen June 22 B y P a t G r u bb
(See Border, page 5)
s The Blaine-Birch Bay Park and Recreation District 2 (BBBPRD2), Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office, Whatcom Smart Trips and Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce hosted a “Confidence Skills Course” at the parks and rec activity center on May 21. Children learned everything from how to pump tires to breaking safely. See more photos on page 16. Photo courtesy BBBPRD2
County council tables no-shooting zone vote By Grace McCarthy After nearly an hour-and-a-half contentious public hearing and rigid council debate, Whatcom County Council voted 5-2 to table discussion on the Drayton Harbor no-shooting zone for two weeks. The decision, opposed by councilmembers Todd Donovan and Carol Frazey, followed councilmembers’ debate that included extending the current 300-foot buffer zone, which doesn’t allow shooting within 300 feet of the shoreline, to 1,000 feet. County councilmembers also voted 6-1,
with Frazey opposed, for a two-week voting hold on the proposed Dearborn no-shooting zone, near Drayton Harbor and Dakota Creek. Five people spoke during a shorter public hearing on the Dearborn, while 10 spoke during the Drayton Harbor public hearing. In July 2019, Blaine City Council unanimously voted on a proclamation asking county council to adopt a no-shooting zone ordinance in Drayton Harbor. After several county council meetings and many discussions, headway on a decision halted as local jurisdictions faced the pandemic.
Blaine’s Fourth of July is back for 2021 festivities By Grace McCarthy Fourth of July festivities will take over downtown Blaine on July 4, albeit a few annual mainstays will be scaled back or missing due to the pandemic. Carroll Solomon, a director on Blaine Chamber of Commerce board who helps organize the event with the city of Blaine, said the celebrations will start at 12 p.m. with the annual street fair. About 30-40 vendors will take over one block on G Street and fill the parking lot behind Black
Forest Steakhouse, at 638 Peace Portal Drive. Solomon said event coordinators hope to keep the festival to a few thousand people in the community this year, instead of drawing the 10,000 people seen in previous years. “We don’t want too many people to come,” Solomon said. “We want to keep it manageable.” All street fair vendors will be local this year, selling everything from food to crafts such as jewelry and toys. Solomon is ac-
cepting vendor applications, but space is limited so people interested are encouraged to email Solomon at cjsolomon07@ comcast.net. The one block of G Street will be the only road closed, Solomon said. Peace Portal Drive will remain open because it’s a state highway, which requires a threemonth notice to close, she said. No parade will travel through the downtown streets, Solomon said, in part be(See 4th of July, page 2)
Blaine city manager Michael Jones asked county council to continue pursuing the no-shooting ordinance in February, but enough time had passed that it needed to be reintroduced to county council again. A separate, but similar, area called Dearborn was also introduced as a proposed no-shooting zone during the March 16 Whatcom County Council meeting. The debate centers around permitting waterfowl hunting in the area, which has a season that lasts from October to the end (See Harbor, page 7)
INSIDE
While there has been no official word, a highly placed source in the Blaine port of entry told local immigration attorney Len Saunders on May 25 that the U.S. intends to unilaterally open the land border without restrictions between the U.S. and Canada on June 22. Another ranking CBP officer also confirmed the news independently. It appears to be common scuttlebutt among regular line officers both in the CBP and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). The current border closure order was extended on May 20 until June 21. The border was closed to non-essential traffic on March 20, 2020. At the same time, the U.S. also suspended biometrics processing at e-SAFE ports of entry for non-essential travel and has extended the suspension each month in coordination with the border closure. Biometric processing requires individuals who are submitting electronic immigration files to go to designated ports of entry for photographs and fingerprints. On Tuesday, May 25, local immigration attorneys were notified that biometric processing had resumed, effective immediately. Saunders declined to identify his first source publicly but said, “He has been highly reliable in the past and is in a position to know.” Saunders said the second source is equally reliable. There have been inchoate rumors circulating the last few days in government circles regarding upcoming changes to border restrictions but nothing definite. If accurate, the U.S. move will place significant pressure on Canada to consider relaxing border restrictions at a time when provincial governments are still locking down their residents. Travel from one part of B.C. to another is still prohibited as is inter-provincial movement. Still, with Canadians eager to return to travel to their cabins in the U.S. or to vacation destinations, the Canadian government will be hard-pressed to deal with returning resi-
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