February 1 - 7, 2018
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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay HHHECRWSSHHH Postal Customer
IN THIS
ISSUE
H Street Little Caesars closes temporarily, page 5
Birch Bay caregiver accused of stealing from elderly patient
Blaine varsity wrestling team beats Lynden, page 7
The Railway Cafe reopens, page 15
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
The early bird sees the super blue blood moon
B y S t e fa n i e D o n a h u e
(See Theft, page 5)
s An ultra-rare super blue blood moon graced the Hawaiian Islands, Alaska and western parts of North America on January 31. Dubbed a “lunar trifecta” by NASA, the phenomenon occurred after a super blue moon entered Earth’s shadow to create a total lunar eclipse; For a short time it took on a reddish-hue to become a blood moon. For viewers in Whatcom County, the totality phase ended at about 6:05 a.m. Pictured above: a view of the super blue blood moon at 5:05 a.m. from Point Roberts. Photo by Pat Grubb
Years of work reap reward for shellfish harvesters B y S t e fa n i e D o n a h u e After nearly two decades of effort to restore water quality in the Birch Bay watershed, local environmental advocates let out a collective sigh of relief – on January 16, the Washington State Department of Health lifted harvesting restrictions on 129 acres of Birch Bay shellfish beds due to reduced levels of pollution. The effort to restore water quality in Birch Bay began after questions emerged about the health of Terrell Creek. The creek drains from Lake Terrell and courses
about nine miles through rural, farm and residential areas, gathering fecal coliform bacteria from a variety of sources and carrying it into Birch Bay. In addition to the pollution, a 1999 habitat assessment conducted by the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA) identified multiple problems hindering successful salmon spawning. Volunteers and various agencies worked together to improve and restore the creek’s water quality and salmon habitat; among them, NSEA, Whatcom Conservation District, Birch Bay Watershed and Aquatic Re-
New grant advances beach restoration project B y S t e fa n i e D o n a h u e California-based Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment awarded $20,000 to the city of Blaine to advance a project to build a new public beach bordering Marine Park. Blaine community development director Michael Jones shared the news with Blaine City Council during a regular meeting on January 22. He said, “This will not be for doing work, but for actually developing the
engineering plans for the next phases of that work down there, which hopefully makes us have a shovel-ready project for potentially moving us ahead on other things.” Blaine community planner Alex Wenger applied for the grant last October and said he received the good news from Rose Foundation in November. “The vision is a new public beach to the Marine Park Playground and Lighthouse Point Water Reclamation Facility that will provide residents and visitors access
to the water’s edge,” he said. The first phase of the project was completed in 2015 and received $50,000 from the Washington State Department of Ecology and $45,000 from the city, in addition to labor and equipment. An estimated 400 feet of shoreline at Telescope Beach in Marine Park was cleaned up during phase one, due in part by volunteer effort put forth by the Salishan Neighborhood Asso(See Beach, page 2)
sources Management District (BBWARM), Chums of Terrell Creek, Whatcom County Public Works, Whatcom County Marine Resources Committee, Environmental Protection Agency, Whatcom County Health Department as well as nearby property owners, including BP, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Washington State Parks as well as other private owners. Since 2003, volunteers have participated in regular work parties to plant over 27,000 plants, restore the creek’s ripari(See Birch Bay, page 3)
INSIDE
Birch Bay resident and caregiver Kimberly Stavig, 54, is accused of identity fraud and theft of more than $100K from a 78-year-old Blaine woman she had been caring for since 2016. Stavig was arrested at her home in Birch Bay on January 25 and was booked into Whatcom County Jail on charges of first and second degree identity theft and first degree theft. On January 26, she was released on her own recognizance and issued a no contact order. According to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO), the victim’s financial advisor became concerned last July, after four money trades totaling $45,000 had been transferred from the woman’s investment account into her regular banking account. Unable to contact the client by phone, the advisor cancelled another $25,000 transfer and shortly after received a call from a female who identified herself as his client. According to WCSO, the victim has a distinctive voice that the advisor knows very well and he knew the woman on the phone was not the account owner. The advisor contacted a WCSO detective and reported that $136,000 had been transferred out of the victim’s investment account in 2017. The advisor, the WCSO detective, an investigator from Adult Protective Services and the victim met to discuss the transfers. The victim explained she had not made any recent transfers and that Stavig likely had access to her checks and debit card, according to WCSO. A subsequent investigation led to the discovery of several large withdrawals from the victim’s regular bank account in July 2017, none of which the victim recalled making. A subpoena was served for the bank records, which revealed that seven transactions were made at a Bellingham Walmart totaling $600-$2,500 between July 19 and August 10, 2017. According to the WCSO, the victim only recalled visiting the Bellingham Walmart on two occasions. Records of all the transactions were lo-
Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Sports . . . . . . . . . . 6 Classifieds . . . . . 11 Coming Up . . . . . 14 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
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