School boards appoints board member

The Blaine school board voted 4-0 to appoint Pacific Building Center and True Value Hardware co-owner Kimberly Akre as its fifth member at a special meeting January 23. Akre will be sworn in at the board’s regular meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, February 27.

Akre will fill former board member Todd Nunamaker’s district 1 seat until November 7, when the seat is up for election. Nunamaker resigned from the board in October 2022 due to continued health challenges. Point Roberts is included in district 1.

The board was required to appoint a representative living in the district to fill the vacant seat as it had been 90 days since Nunamaker resigned. District 1 includes Point Roberts and western parts of downtown Blaine. Board members must also be a U.S. citizen and registered voter.

The school board interviewed two candidates, Akre and Brandy Hawkins, in its special meeting January 23. After about 35 minutes in executive session to discuss the candidates, the board unanimously appointed Akre.

“I saw it as a good opportunity to give back to the community,” Akre said January 24.

Akre said her family moved to the area in 1977. She attended Blaine schools, graduating in 1992. She and her family took over the Pacific Building Center in 1997. She owns it with her sister Stephanie Munden. Akre also has two boys who went to Blaine schools.

Akre said as a business owner she is

Letters ...

From page 4 documenting many of the key issues.

As a previous editor, I had the privilege of interviewing Ms. McCarthy for her internship application. After she was accepted, not only did she do top-notch reporting, but she also asked important ethical questions. When a small business that she was writing about sent her a free, unsolicited product sample, she asked if she should keep it or send it back. When a local legislator asked to edit one of their statements after a Q&A, Ms. McCarthy asked for guidance on this too (I advised that the politician couldn’t revise their quote).

In a profession that does not have legislated rules for sound constitutional reasons, these types of questions must be deliberated upon by each journalist as they chart their own course. Indeed, all of us must consider such questions, since we are all journalists every time we post on social media, speak up about common concerns and shared issues, or otherwise express ourselves to others.

The whole team at Point Roberts Press is doing a wonderful job at serving its readers, encouraging community engagement and helping to raise awareness of important topics relevant to this unique and special part of America and the world. Thank you for reading my letter, and best wishes to Ms. McCarthy for the continued progress of her outstanding journalism career.

Jami Makan Coquitlam, B.C. and Blaine

The Editor: comfortable dealing with financial issues and could apply this to a role as an adviser on district finances and operations. “I think a lot of people don’t realize that the school is a business,” Akre said. “It has to be run as a business.”

I was encouraged to read Dr. Sandhya Gelou’s letter in which she addressed the urgency of diabetes prevention, noting some remarkable successes in the American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

In November 2016, Akre was elected the first woman president of Western Building Material Association, a regional trade association serving Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. Akre has also served as president of the Blaine Chamber of Commerce.

Having caught her during the middle of the workday, Akre said she didn’t yet have any specific goals for her time on the board. “This has all been pretty new to me,” she said.

All other populations are continuing to trend upward in diabetes diagnoses at alarming rates.

It’s time to connect some dots: Diabetes prevention should be an ambitious public health initiative. Now. Not off into the future.

Type 2 diabetes, the opioid crisis, alcohol and tobacco use have something in common. They are among the top health challenges in our country. They are expensive to contain and treat and raise the cost of insurance and medical care for employers and employees. Additionally, they negatively impact workforce participation.

The governor, chambers of commerce, business owners and various media are expressing concerns about the difficulty in recruiting and retaining a stable workforce.

These challenges have become acute.

In December, the CDC warned of a 700 percent surge in diabetes in young Americans under the age of 20 in the coming decades. This new research should be a wake-up call to ensure all of our children are the healthiest they can be.

Our health department will be the administrator of the Healthy Children’s Fund (Proposition 5) that was approved in November 2022. They should include diabetes prevention as a priority. Prop. 5 plans are still in their developmental phase – so it’s possible to include diabetes prevention in the 10-year project, which is funded by property taxes.

How many readers know the elected Whatcom County Council comprises the board of our county health department?

It was county council that voted to put the so-called healthy kids measure on the ballot, even though there was no developed plan defined.

Diabetes prevention belongs on the public health agenda if we want a future healthy labor pool. Where’s the leadership?

Delores Davies Ferndale