January 18 - 24, 2024
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Gibson reflects on Blaine author’s book on Hollywood interviews, page 5 school board time, page 6
Blaine High School sports, page 7
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Downtown Winter storm blankets the Northwest Blaine sidewalks pose potential construction problems By Grace McCarthy
(See Sidewalks, page 3)
s The first major snowfall of the season blanketed Blaine Harbor and the rest of Whatcom County on January 17. Photo by Molly Ernst
February 13 special election ballots mailed soon Blaine school bond and levy, parks and recreation levy up for vote By Nolan Baker Blaine and Birch Bay voters will be faced with three funding decisions on their ballots for the February 13 special election. Ballots are expected to be mailed and drop boxes will be open Wednesday, January 24, according to the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office. The Blaine school district is asking voters to approve a replacement levy to help pay for district operations, which is especially needed in light of dwindling state funding and a $70 million bond to fund
a host of capital improvement projects. Blaine-Birch Bay Park and Recreation District 2 (BBBPRD2) is asking for a levy renewal to fund staffing, keep costs for classes low and support youth sports. Blaine school district replacement levy Roughly 17 percent of Blaine school district’s operating budget comes from property tax levies paid for by residents of Blaine, Birch Bay and Point Roberts. While state funding takes care of swaths of expenses for the district, levies are needed to fill in gaps between what the state will pay
Birch Bay landlord arrested on suspicion of pulling gun on tenant’s mother By Grace McCarthy A Birch Bay landlord was arrested after allegedly putting a gun to the head of his tenant’s mother. Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) deputies responded about 6:45 p.m. January 14 to a woman reporting she was helping her son move out of his home on Halibut Drive in Birch Bay when the son’s landlord began a
confrontation that led to the landlord allegedly holding a gun to the woman’s head, WCSO public information officer Deb Slater wrote in an email to The Northern Light. WCSO deputies contacted the landlord, Westlee Adam Brock, 45, of Blaine, and he told law enforcement that he had asked the woman to leave his house. WCSO deputies arrested Brock and booked him into Whatcom County Jail
at 8:37 p.m. that evening, according to Whatcom County Jail booking data. Brock had his preliminary appearance on January 16. He was charged with second-degree assault with a deadly weapon, according to Whatcom County Superior Court records. Brock was released from jail January 16 on $1,500 cash bail. His arraignment is scheduled for January 26.
for, and what the students of Blaine need, superintendent Christopher Granger said. If passed, the levy rate will start in 2025 at $0.98 per $1,000 of assessed property value, and increase to $1 in 2026, $1.03 in 2027 and $1.04 in 2028. Over the course of the four-year levy, the tax would raise around $32 million. Granger said the levy is crucial for the school district to retain staff and lessen the blow of a looming budget reduction. “This is mission critical,” Granger said (See Election, page 3)
INSIDE
The city of Blaine’s downtown revitalization project has revealed voids under areas of the sidewalk on Peace Portal Drive that engineers are working to understand to ensure sidewalk construction doesn’t cause problems for the surrounding roadway, buildings or utilities. Cascade Engineering Group, a Bellingham-based company that the city hired to perform project engineering, discovered gaps underneath some areas of the sidewalk on Peace Portal Drive, located between buildings and the top of sections of a historic retaining wall. Greg Berg, project engineer for Cascade, presented the findings to Blaine City Council during its January 8 meeting. Berg told councilmembers the engineering group is trying to locate city documents to show where remnants of the retaining wall are located and how the wall was built so the engineers know how they can proceed with sidewalk construction. “Knowing exactly how they are built would determine what we can and can’t do,” Berg said. If the sidewalk is integral to the building and roadway, the city will need to replace the sidewalk through a more complicated and expensive process to avoid damages that could include depressions in Peace Portal Drive, disrupt utilities or cause structural damage to buildings. Berg said he hasn’t seen signs that the sidewalks are at risk of a complete structural failure, but to do a complete structural analysis, he needs the drawings of how the sidewalks and retaining walls were constructed. “We would have to [replace the sidewalk] completely differently to make sure we don’t do damage,” Berg said. “It would be much more complicated than normal replacing.” The retaining wall, installed to level roads in central downtown, has documents dating it to at least 1932 and the wall was added onto in 1979. The sidewalk, elevated above ground
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