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Blaine eighth graders talk voting, page 4
High school soccer season comes to an end, page 6
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Costumed crusaders chase down candy on Halloween
VOTE NOV. 8
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Whatcom County Auditor’s Office open longer for election B y S t e fa n i e D o n a h u e With the general election close at hand, the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office has extended office hours to assist voters requiring assistance. On Saturday, November 5, the office will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. to assist voters who either have not received a ballot, need a replacement ballot or require another copy of the voter’s pamphlet. This election, postage is upped to 68 cents in Whatcom, Snohomish and Douglas counties due to the size and weight of ballots. However, Whatcom County Auditor Debbie Adelstein confirmed last week that ballots will still make it to the elections office, even if they’re not properly stamped. Costs can be avoided by using a ballot drop-box, located in 15 locations throughout the county, including the Blaine Library, located at 610 3rd Street, and North Whatcom Fire and Rescue, located at 4581 Birch Bay-Lynden Road. A drop box will also be located at the community center in Point Roberts on Election Day only from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Drop boxes will be open at all hours, seven days per week, until 8 p.m. on Election Day, this coming Tuesday, November 8, the same day by which mail-in ballots must be post marked. For those who’ve yet to receive a ballot in the mail and are unable to attend the extended hours on Saturday, call the Whatcom County election office at 360/778-5102.
s A masked event-goer bears a wide grin at the Kids Karnival in Birch Bay. The event was sponsored by the Blaine-Birch Bay Park and Recreation District 2 and Lion’s Camp Horizon and took place on Saturday, October 29 at the Birch Bay Activity Center. Games, a pumpkin putt golf tournament, snacks and clown duo Zig Zag and Ragz provided entertainment. For more Halloween photos from around Blaine and Birch Bay, turn to page 10.
Photo by Abby of Dynamite Images
Blaine school district asks for closure waiver By Oliver Lazenby Blaine High School students may not have to make up all four school days they missed after a September 28 electrical explosion in a mechanical room. The district is asking the state office for superintendent of public instruction (OSPI) for a waiver for two of the days high school students missed in September and October. The outage canceled classes for all district schools on September 29, and for just high school students the following three school days. The district has already scheduled two makeup days. An extra day has been tacked
on to the end of the year for all students, making June 16 the scheduled last day of school. High school students will make up a day on November 14, which was previously a professional development day for teachers. That day is still a teacher workday for kindergarten through 8th grade classes. The change doesn’t leave any wiggle room in the schedule for high school graduation, which is currently set for June 9. Seniors can’t graduate more than five school days before the official last day of school, which is now pushed back to Friday, June 16. If schools miss another day, or if OSPI
doesn’t waive the two days, then the planned graduation date would be more than five school days before the last day for the rest of the students and will have to be rescheduled. “The date for high school graduation is uncertain right now. We will need to get through winter first,” said district assistant to the superintendent Tina Padilla. The district had no school closures last school year, however, and the lone closure the previous year was for a teacher walk out. The district hopes to hear back from OSPI about the waiver application in the next few weeks, Padilla said.
B y S t e fa n i e D o n a h u e A man facing a November 7 trial for assault has now been accused of trying to arrange the murder of the assault victim and her boyfriend. Kurt Ebe, 60, in jail since July, attempted to solicit the help of a fellow inmate by offering him $25,000 to do the deed. An affidavit of probable cause determination filed October 27 alleges that Ebe presented the idea to fellow inmate Mathew Staniford while in custody at the Whatcom County Jail. According to prosecutors, Ebe hoped the murder would get
charges dismissed from a July 16 assault, which allegedly occurred after Ebe accused a woman, Coerud Sowers, of stealing a rug that belonged to him. Sowers had been living in a tent on his property on the 2300 block of Birch Bay–Lynden Road. Ebe is accused of dousing Sowers and her belongings with gasoline after the pair began arguing about the rug. Sowers fled the scene because she said she felt threatened after Ebe held a lit match near her personal items, according to the affidavit. Ebe was charged two days later with assault in the first degree. Unable to make bail of $250,000, he has sat in jail since then.
Ebe, now facing two counts of solicitation to commit murder in the first degree, is alleged to have asked Staniford to murder Sowers by inducing a drug overdose with a lethal mix of heroin and fentanyl, a notoriously powerful drug combination responsible for a recent surge in drug overdoses. According to prosecutors, Ebe downplayed the legal consequences to Staniford and cited an incident in which he was charged and sentenced with the unlawful delivery of a controlled substance following the fatal overdose of Tara Smit at his home in 2006. (See Courts, page 3)
INSIDE
Custer man accused of soliciting murder while awaiting trial Coming Up . . . . . 14 Classifieds . . . . . 11 Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Sports . . . . . . . . . . 6 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
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