March 31 - April 6, 2016
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ISSUE
Birch Bay Road Race this weekend, page 3
Birch Bay man sentenced to 6 years for child sex abuse
Home and Garden special section, pages 8-9
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Remembering Neil Mcdonald, page 6
Democratic caucus draws big crowds
By Steve Guntli
s Hundreds of people filled the Blaine Middle School cafeteria for the 2016 Washington Democratic Caucus on March 26. Whatcom County democrats overwhelmingly supported Vermont senator Bernie Sanders in his bid for the presidential nomination, with 80.5 percent supporting Sanders and 19.2 percent supporting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Sanders won Washington with 72.7 percent to Clinton’s 27.1.
Photo by Jack Kintner
Enforcement begins on Blaine municipal code violations By Oliver Lazenby Code violations such as dilapidated structures, excessive yard waste and junk vehicles have accumulated in Blaine faster than city staff could deal with them. But the tide is turning and in March the city began resolving some of the violations in its backlog. Since starting work a little more than a month ago, new community planner Maddie Ottley has identified roughly 52 properties with code violations and sent letters to at least 22 of the property owners. The letters are informal and ask for
voluntary compliance, Ottley said. The city is hoping property owners will voluntarily comply with codes after being notified of violations, but fines could come later. Several cases have already been resolved, Ottley said. The letters are the first step in an enforcement process that city staff has been working toward for a while. Last year, council passed a code enforcement ordinance aimed at making violations easier to enforce and funded additional employee hours for the project, which allowed Ottley to join city staff. “We now have the manpower to shrink the number of violations and we should
Blaine Harbor’s sawtooth dock to be repaired By Oliver Lazenby Port of Bellingham commissioners voted to move $285,000 for structural repairs to the sawtooth dock, in Blaine Harbor, into this year’s budget at a March 15 commission meeting. That will allow for repairs to the sawtooth dock, which is just east of the Westman Marine building, to start this
summer. Previously, work on the dock was budgeted for 2017. “The sawtooth dock is in a little worse shape than we thought,” said Adam Fulton, the port’s director of facilities. “We’re hoping to do some immediate repairs as soon as possible.” The repairs include replacing structures that are broken or rotten to make the dock at least partially usable, Fulton said.
The Port of Bellingham has plans to make updates throughout Blaine Harbor this summer, including repairs to the north and south industrial piers, the gate 1 landing float and replacement of utility hangers on gate 3 floats. Before work can start, the project needs to be permitted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the state department of fish and wildlife, and the city of Blaine.
be able to keep them at a minimum,” said Michael Jones, community development director. The city tracks nuisances through written complaints or by noticing them from a public right of way. So far Ottley is working from a list of violations that includes 25 for dangerous structures, 14 for debris/trash, six for vegetation, three for parking and four environment violations. “The city has always enforced the codes. However, our capacity to do that was limited due to limited staff resources,” Jones said. “We have a large number (See Code, page 2)
INSIDE
A Birch Bay resident is facing six years in prison for sexually assaulting an underage girl. On March 23, Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Deborra Garrett handed Ray Anthony Hollis, 21, his sentence for the August 15, 2015 assault. According to a statement from the victim, Hollis came to her family’s home uninvited, while the preteen girl and her sister were home alone. The girl claimed she was too scared to ask Hollis to leave, so they watched a movie until Hollis fell asleep, and then left to go to bed. Hollis woke, followed the girl and raped her. The girl was able to convince Hollis to stop, at which time she called the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies at the scene reported Hollis was obviously high on drugs and had difficulty stringing sentences together. Medics administered a rape kit to the victim and found injuries consistent with her claims. Hollis was charged with the rape of a child in the second degree. He pleaded guilty in January to reduced charges of burglary in the first degree and two counts of indecent liberties. Hollis maintains he is innocent of the crime. He claimed in court that he’d come to the home to steal some bottles of alcohol, and the victim made up the story to cover for the fact that she had been drinking with him. Hollis has one previous felony on his record for residential burglary and several misdemeanor charges for domestic violence. As a child he was diagnosed as schizophrenic. After Hollis serves his prison sentence, he will have to register as a sex offender.
Letters . . . . . . . . . 5 Sports . . . . . . . . . . 6 Classifieds . . . . . 11 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Coming Up . . . . . 14 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
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