September 21 - 27, 2017
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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay HHHECRWSSHHH Postal Customer
IN THIS
ISSUE
Local eatery gets top health department award, page 2
Water commissioner Reichhhardt retires after 40 years
CBP arrests two at Peace Arch, page 5
Custer man establishes museum, page 8
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Running with the chums
By Oliver Lazenby
(See Water, page 3)
s A runner high-fives a smolt at the annual Run with the Chums on September 16, an organized run that teaches about watershed health and Terrell Creek.
Photos by Abby of Dynamite Images
Voters have until October 9 to register, update address B y S t e fa n i e D o n a h u e Whatcom County residents have until Monday, October 9 to register or change their address in order to vote in the November 7 general election, according to the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office. New Washington voters can register in-person until Monday, October 30. To register, visit the Whatcom County Courthouse at 311 Grand
Avenue suite 103 in Bellingham. A full slate of candidates are vying for public office throughout Whatcom County. Blaine’s city council has four seats up for grabs as well as two positions serving the Blaine School District, three serving the Fire Protection District 21, one serving the Birch Bay Water and Sewer District and two serving Blaine-Birch Bay Park and Recreation District 2. Blaine and Birch Bay voters will also
Birch Bay nonprofit awarded $10,000 for volunteer service B y S t e fa n i e D o n a h u e Nearly a decade after co-founding The Somero Project, a nonprofit organization that provides children in the Ugandan village of Kotolo with a place to learn, Birch Bay resident Becky Conover and her father, Craig Conover, are receiving a helping hand. On September 5, Wells Fargo announced it was giving $10,000 toward the project as part of its 39th annual employee Volunteer Service Award. Becky, a ser-
vice manager at a Wells Fargo location in Mount Vernon, was one of 16 in the company to receive the award, which grants a range of $1,000 to $25,000 to eligible nonprofits each year. Becky and Craig began supporting Ugandan children through missionary work. As a student at Ferndale High School, Becky organized a fundraiser for the Uganda Orphan Choir. The duo later came up with the idea to build and operate a school in the Kotolo village after visiting Uganda in 2007, just after Becky
graduated from high school. The closest school to Kotolo was seven miles away and distance and unsafe conditions resulted in few children making the trek each day. Parents resumed the role of teachers and often taught lessons outside. Heavy rains and other weather conditions made it challenging to get through a single school day, Becky said. Craig pulled from his life savings to construct the Evergreen Primary School in (See Somero, page 3)
decide whether or not to approve a sixyear renewal of the Blaine-Birch Bay Park and Recreation District 2 levy at a rate of 10 cents per $1,000 assessed home value. The rate is the same amount as a levy that was passed in 2013, which expires this year. Ballots will be mailed on Wednesday, October 18 and are due by Tuesday, November 7.
Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Sports . . . . . . . . . . 6 Classifieds . . . . . 11 Coming Up . . . . . 14 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
INSIDE
How water has been supplied to Birch Bay residents has changed a lot in the past four decades. During that time, two districts merged to make the Birch Bay Water and Sewer District (BBWSD) and the population served by BBWSD doubled. The district has had three general managers, held more than 900 regular meetings and taken on upgrades, repairs and public education programs to reduce water use. Former commissioner Carl Reichhardt, 81, oversaw nearly all that. Reichhardt retired from the commission in August after serving BBWSD since January 1, 1978. He left in the middle of a six-year term and Jeff Benner filled his position. “It’s time to get some fresh blood in there,” Reichhardt said. “I enjoyed it. I have an engineering background and I dealt with water and sewer all the time.” Benner was appointed by the remaining commissioners and can run for the position in the November election to serve out the rest of a six-year term. Benner is the district’s first new commissioner since 1997, when Patrick Alesse joined the board. The other commissioner, Don Montfort, started in 1994. Reichhardt, a planning consultant and civil engineer by trade, brought knowledge about infrastructure and a willingness to dig into numbers and budgets to the council, said Sandi McMillan, district finance director. “His attention to detail is amazing,” she said. One of the biggest changes during Reichhardt’s time was a merger between dis-
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