January 2016
IN THIS
ISSUE
www.AllPointBulletin.com
Stop dumping your trash at the park, page 3
Radio tower saga ends with cheers
Images of the holidays, page 12
ECRWSS PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 14
FREE
New radios, new TV audio, page 16
Point Roberts, WA 98281 Postal Patron Local
Presenting the history of Point Roberts
By Meg Olson It’s official. Community efforts to prevent a proposed radio tower farm from being built on the Point have succeeded. November 30 was the last day that BBC Broadcasting could appeal the most recent legal ruling in Skagit County Superior Court that the proposed array of five 150foot AM radio towers was not allowed under existing zoning. Their failure to do so amounted to their abandoning their project, according to Jennifer Urquhart, treasurer with the Cross Border Coalition to Stop the Radio Towers. The grassroots coalition brought together people from both sides of the border to fight the project, which was intended to serve metro Vancouver’s east Asian community. Opponents said the towers would wreak havoc with electronics in Point Roberts and Tsawwassen. “We are gratified that our small communities have prevailed in a case where we were out-gunned and out-spent,” Urquhart said. “This win shows what can be done when ordinary citizens of two countries unite behind a common cause – in this case to protect our quality of life and health from an unwanted tower array on our shared peninsula.” Congresswoman Suzan DelBene was quick to congratulate the coalition. “After a lot of hard work, determination and vocal objection, Point Roberts has succeeded in preventing the construction of this project that would have negatively affected the quality of life for residents,” DelBene said. “I am honored to have worked closely with the community on this important issue, and thankful for the efforts of all involved.” The two-year legal battle has taken the coalition and its lawyers from the county hearing examiner through to superior court, and has cost a quarter of a million dollars, raised from community donations and fundraising events. Urquhart said they still need to raise $15,000 to pay off the legal bills and encouraged community members to visit notowers. webs.com to donate. The coalition has also petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to deny the renewal of BBC’s broadcast license.
s The Point Roberts Primary School holiday concert attracted a standing-room-only crowd at the community center on December 16. Photo by Ed Park
2015
year in
review
A Look Back at the Year That Just Was
By Meg Olson January • The community rallied with donations after a thief at the fire station stole the firefighters’ association boot drive funds, destined to help the local food bank. Spearheaded by Auntie Pam’s Country Store, a fundraising drive to replace the funds brought in thousands of dollars. • The Point Roberts Community Advisory Committee (PRCAC) struggled with what, if any, role it should play in ensur-
ing local compliance with county codes, following a backlash after the committee drew up and submitted to the county a list of violations. • The Party on the Point at Kiniski’s Reef Tavern raised over $10,000 to help pay the legal bills for the Cross Border Coalition to Stop the Towers, while the proceeds from the annual artisans guild fair kicked in another $2,000. February • The Whatcom County Council voted unanimously to uphold the county hearing examiner’s denial of a conditional use permit to build an AM radio tower farm on the Point. • Increased sharing of travelers’
Whidbey Telecom vows infrastructure upgrade By Meg Olson Following back-to-back outages, Whidbey Telecom is accelerating plans to improve its backup system. “There are probably no less than four projects in flight now to address these catastrophic outages that seem to be happening more frequently,” said Chris
Burns, senior technology director with Whidbey Telecom. On November 25 at 2:49 a.m. telephone and Internet service was cut off for all of Point Roberts after a submarine fiber cable, which provides service to the Point, was cut. Service was restored at 2:05 p.m. “It was a cable cut failure but a switching failure as well,” Burns said. “We bought a
second router and that router should have immediately taken our traffic. It didn’t. We’re a little disappointed in the performance of our service provider. We made a significant investment and it didn’t work.” Again on November 27, a failed fiber patch in Seattle led to another outage, (See Whidbey, page 2)
biographic information between U.S. and Canadian border agencies raised concerns for Canadians who regularly travel to the U.S. • The Cottages at Seabright Farm began construction of public access stairs connecting their bluff trail to the beach. • Seeing a surge of code violation reports coming from Point Roberts, county staff turned to PRCAC for input about what (See Year in Review, page 5)
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Church ............................................... 6 Classifieds ......................................... 18 Coming Up ....................................... 14 Crossings .......................................... 13 Library ............................................. 13 Opinion ............................................... 4 Seniors ............................................. 13 Tides ................................................. 16