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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay
July 9 - 15, 2015
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IN THIS
ISSUE
Grisly incident in Birch Bay, page 3
Legislature approves new pot reform bill
Native American canoe journey stops in Blaine, page 8
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Blaine coffee shop earns award, page 15
Blaine’s Old-Fashioned Fourth of July
By Steve Guntli Governor Jay Inslee signed a recreational marijuana reform bill into law on June 30. The bill makes several changes in the state’s recreational marijuana laws that will simplify the tax and licensing processes. The bill, House Bill 2136, passed through the House on June 26 by a vote of 59–38 and the Senate on June 27 by 36–7. Perhaps the biggest change is the elimination of the three-tier tax structure that was implemented once sales commenced. The system imposed a 25 percent tax at each level of production and sale: producers, processors and retailers. That system is replaced by a single 37 percent excise tax at the point of sale at the retailer. The reforms address complaints by retailers who pointed out that medical marijuana outlets were able to undercut regular retail prices as they paid little or no tax on their sales. Now, both recreational and medical users would pay the 37 percent excise tax, which will help level the playing field for retailers and medical dispensaries. Medical users will be exempt from the tax if they are already in a registry created by regulatory legislation earlier this year. The reforms also allow cities and counties to reduce the 1,000-foot buffer zone between marijuana retailers and certain restricted locations. Under the new laws, marijuana businesses can now be within 100 feet of childcare centers, arcades, libraries, public parks or transit centers. The 1,000-foot buffer will still be in place for schools. The measure would also ban marijuana drive-throughs, vending machines or clubs.
s Mike Dahl marches on stilts singing “Yankee Doodle Dandy” in Blaine’s Old Fashioned Fourth of July parade. See more photos on pages 8-10.
Photo by Debbie Harger
Wildfires cover western Washington in smoke By Steve Guntli Whatcom County residents have found themselves under a layer of smoke since July 6 as wildfires rage in Washington and British Columbia. B.C. currently has more than 180 wildfires throughout the province. The smoke from the more than 70 fires burning in southern B.C. and Vancouver Island has settled over much of
western Washington, extending as far south as the Olympic Peninsula. The smoke has drastically impacted the air quality in the region. North Whatcom County is facing the worst of it: a monitoring station for the Washington State Department of Ecology rated the air quality near the Canadian border as “very unhealthy” on the morning of July 6. By mid-afternoon, the conditions had been upgraded to “unhealthy for sensitive people,” meaning
Ballots for primary elections arriving shortly The ballots for the August 4 primary elections in Whatcom County will be mailed out on Wednesday, July 15. Blaine and Birch Bay have candidates running for commissioner positions on the Blaine school district and the Port of Bellingham boards. Three Birch Bay residents are vying for an open position on the school board. Joan Lotze, Jesse Creydt and Russ Schutt are each vying for the director district 3 seat on the
school board. Lotze was appointed to the position in 2014 to replace Susan Holmes. One Blaine resident is running for port commissioner. Bobby Briscoe, a local fisherman, is running to replace Jim Jorgenson, who will retire from the commission at the end of this year. He will face off against former Ferndale mayor Gary Jenson and businessman Lloyd Zimmerman. Both the school board and port com-
missioner positions are nonpartisan seats with four-year terms. The deadline for new voters to register is 4:30 p.m. on July 27. Only in-person registration for new voters is accepted. The primary election will take place on August 4. The general election will be held on November 3. For more information, visit the Whatcom County Auditor’s website at co.whatcom.wa.us/199/ auditor.
it still poses health concerns to people with lung or heart conditions. Over the weekend, the county dispatch center was clogged with telephone calls from citizens reporting smoke. Dispatchers received close to 100 calls starting on July 5. Authorities are encouraging citizens to limit their calls to reports on actual fires. (See Wildfire, page 12)
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