dec 2015: vol. 24 no. 12

In This Issue

Whatcom Watch PO Box 1441Bellingham, WA 98227-1441

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a community forum on government, environmental issues and media www.whatcomwatch.org

Volume 24, Number 12 December 2015 In print since 1992

Critique of WTA’s Strategic Plan Update ............. 2

Winter Is for Waterfowl ....................................... 3

Mary Trask Sends Bicycles to Africa .................... 4

Voting and Vote Counting with Integrity ............ 6

Whatcom County Hands Coal a Sack of No ......... 7

Racism, Slavery and War ...................................10

Twenty Years Ago............................................... 15

Being Frank .......................................................18

poetrywatch ...................................................... 19

Village Books Events .........................................20

Watch on Government

Bellingham City Council ............................ 12

Port of Bellingham Commission ................ 14

Whatcom County Council .......................... 16

Continued on page 8

SAVE OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARKThe People say NO

to a Navy plan

WHAT YOU CAN DO:1. Open Google on your computer and search for: youtube, The Olympic Peninsula is Not for Electromagnetic Warfare Training, to view a powerful video explaining the navy’s plan for a warfare range. 2. See citizens’ protest at http://vimeo.com/111189009.3. Write to Interior Department official (see details below).4. Share this information with everyone you know via email/social media.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:FACT: The US Navy plans to convert the Olympic Peninsula into a permanent “Electronic Warfare Range,”using airspace over Olympic National Park. They have requested to use National Forest lands that border the Park to place radar-emitting trucks. These trucks will be beaming electromagnetic signals to squadrons of Electronic Attack jets, which will be continually scanning the landscape with radar.

FACT: The Navy’s plans include very loud Growler jets, practicing in trios, conducting “tactical maneuvers” in the airspace directly above Olympic National Park, for 8-16 hours/day, 260 days/year, indefinitely. They will be flying as low as 1200 feet.

FACT: Growlers are the noisiest jets ever made, up to 113 decibels at 1000 ft. Exposure to that noise, even for a short duration, can permanently damage human hearing. Children’s ears are especially vulnerable.

FACT: No studies were done on the impacts this Range will have on:

- three million annual visitors to Olympic National Park - tourism economies of the small communities surrounding the Park - fire risk from crashing jets and misguided electromagnetic beams - toxic pollution from the jets’ emissions - jet noise impacts on the health of humans and wildlife, including endangered species - billions of bird migration interruptions - electromagnetic radiation exposure to humans and wildlife

Part 14

by Meredith Moench

Twenty years ago, who dared to dream that the Lummi Island quarry might one day become a protected nature preserve? At the time in 1995, a new operator hoped to expand the 10 acre pit to more than 200 acres from the shoreline up the east face of Lummi Mountain.

The expansion looked inevitable, but in 1996 The Lummi Island (LI) Con-servancy* challenged the plan before the Whatcom County Hearing Examiner with the result that the allowable mine size was limited. And in 1998, the county approved

a 20-acre Mineral Resource Land (MRL) designation for the 105-acre property. The LI Conservancy became involved again in 2011 when renewed expansion of mining operations at the site intensified noise and dust impacts to neighboring residences. Several of those property owners joined forces with Conservancy members new and founding-now in their 80’s — to again challenge the mining operation.

What looked impossible 20 years ago

is real today — the Lummi Island Heri-tage Trust, a local land trust dedicated to conserving land on Lummi Island, has purchased the property for permanent protection. The Heritage Trust will restore the areas damaged by mining and create a nature preserve that will be accessible to us and future generations of plants, wildlife and people. Some see this as a David vs. Goliath morality tale for our beleaguered planet – a story of the little guy standing up to big entrenched interests extracting wealth from the natural world with little concern for long-term harm.

Though our story may be a bit less dra-matic, the effort required to challenge the status quo was no less grand. It involved dozens of people contributing their talents and time and setting the stage for a seren-dipitous transformation whose time had at last come. Perhaps this was best expressed by Elden Hillaire of the Lummi Nation’s Natural Resources Commission. Upon hearing news of the purchase, he said,

“That’s a good step in the right direction for Healing of Mother Earth!!”

Rapid ExpansionBefore 1990, quarry operations more closely resembled a Mom and Pop effort supplying gravel and rock products for local use; a six pack could get you some rock. Over time, changes in ownership led to more ambitious plans to expand operations and regional markets. By 2011, quarry operations had grown to industrial scale. Going well be-yond the “C” Street yard in Bellingham, 120-foot long barges loaded with gravel and rock regularly headed out to Skagit, Snohomish and King counties. Blasting, rock crushing and barge loading at two pier facilities brought the continuous beeping of heavy equipment back-up alarms. Blasted rock crashed 200 feet down into the pit for three crushing plants, each creating a giant pile of gravel of differing specifications. The crushing plant capacity had expanded to

Kitchen Table Activism:From Hard Rock Mine to Nature Preserve

Meredith Moench is president of the Lummi Island Conservancy. For updates and additional information, go to http://lummiislandconservancy.org/

*The Lummi Island Conservancy is a 501(c)3 non-profit citizen activist organization formed by a group of islanders in 1988, including Al and Sheila Marshall who remain active today. Among other accomplishments, the organiza-tion saved 500 acres on Lummi Mountain from logging in 1988; the WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife ended up purchasing the acreage and establishing a refuge for federally protected peregrine falcons.

Bellingham Activist Helps Protect Olympic Peninsula, With Mixed Results

by Bruce Radtke

Olympic National Park, Wash. – Residents, visitors, and wildlife are threatened by the U.S. Navy’s proposal for electromagnetic warfare training over the Olympic peninsula. Noisy “growler jets” likely could cause hear-ing loss for some people as well as trauma for wildlife. For that reason, on Wed. Aug. 12, 2015, three women and I handed out flyers (see page 9) in the parking lot at trailheads on Hurricane Ridge. We had been assured by “Save the Olympic Peninsula” activists that

Bruce Radtke is a retired librarian from Bellingham Public Library where he was Outreach Librarian for 30 years.

A Threat to Our Neighbors’ Environment

Continued on page 9

permission was granted by park authorities to hand out leaflets without a permit.

In the Visitor’s Center at the base of the mountain, Ellen and Shirley, two of my companions, were told contradictory warn-ings about leafleting when they explained to office staff our intentions. When they tried to discuss this with a park ranger, his vehicle left before the women could reach the agreed-upon meeting location.

Meanwhile Elizabeth and I had already started handing out flyers, and we received mostly appreciative comments from people who read the information. None of us re-ceived information from staff about a “free speech zone” in the national park. When a park ranger approached us, he mentioned no information about a free speech zone, but he insisted we needed a permit. With a crowd listening, I raised my voice and said, “I have freedom of speech.”

He said, “Give me those papers” and reached for them, which I held in my left hand. The ranger later claimed that I pushed

(“assaulted”) him; I might have raised my right hand in self defense. I know that he pushed me back hard enough that I landed on my back, with the ranger on my legs. A plain-clothes “retired” police officer “happened” to have cuffs handy, and he wrenched my arms behind me to apply the cuffs.

Elizabeth protested the brutal treatment

and was told to stand back while they brought me to the rear seat of the ranger’s vehicle. I sat there in pain for what seemed like a long time. (Later, my doctor noted rotor cuff issues and my right hand’s numbed surface.) The ranger had injured his knee and phoned for backup.

Is the Navy listening to concerned Washingtonians? Source: www.savetheolympicpeninsula.org

December 2015Whatcom Watch2

Whatcom WatchDecember 2015

Volume 24, Issue 12

Editorial Policy: Whatcom Watch is a volunteer print and online newspaper that covers issues of environment, media and government primarily in Whatcom County. It is sup-ported by individual contributions and local advertising. While the paper presents views not often covered by other publications, it nevertheless endeavors to be as fair as possible in selecting a presentation of chal-lenging ideas. It can only achieve this with the active involvement of its readership and reader response is encouraged.

Toward this end Whatcom Watch serves as a community forum. Editors reserve the right to edit all submissions, including letters, for accuracy, length and clarity of expression. While opinions expressed in articles need not refl ect the views of editors, the news-paper strives to present material that is of value and concern to the community. When Whatcom Watch editors spend time editing a submission, it constitutes our commitment to publish the submission and the author’s tacit agreement with us that the submission will be published in the newspaper. If an article is ac-cepted for publication in Whatcom Watch, it must not appear in another publication (print or Internet) until at least 10 days after the Watch has appeared on newsstands.

Whatcom Watch is published monthly (except for the combined October/November issue). Subscrip-tion prices: see back page. Direct all correspondence to: Whatcom Watch, PO Box 1441, Bellingham, WA 98227-1441. Approximately 2,200 copies are printed. Free copies are distributed to more than 50 locations in Whatcom County. Funding comes from donations, subscriptions and local advertising.

CopyrightContent may be copied for non-commercial use if at-tributed (Creative Commons BY-NV 3.0 license terms apply).

DeadlinesAll submissions must be received by the fi rst day of the month to be considered for the following month’s edition (see Submission Guidelines at www.whatcom-watch.org for more details).

SustainabilityWhatcom Watch is printed on recycled paper with soy ink. Volunteers make every effort to reduce the carbon footprint by distributing Whatcom Watch using Smart-Trips (www.whatcomsmarttrips.org).

Contact Information:Managing Editor: [email protected]

Layout/Distribution: Bill McCallum at 734-6007 or [email protected]

Managing Editor: Jennifer Karchmer

Poetrywatch Editor: Boris Schleinkofer

Layout/Voting Reports Editor: Bill McCallum

On-Line Editor: Ken Russell

Voting Reports Bellingham City Council: Boris SchleinkoferWhatcom County Council: Barry MacHalePort of Bellingham Commission: Andrew McBride

Front/Back Page Heron: Ron K. Sorensen

Delivery: Liz Washburn

Proofreader: David M. Laws

Contributors this monthAngela Belcaster

Stoney BirdBarbara BrennerKristin EberhardKathryn Fentress

Jennifer KarchmerDavid M. LawsLorraine Loomis

Joe MecheMeredith MoenchTimothy PilgrimBruce Radtke

Preston L. SchillerWhatcom Fair Voting

PhotographyLifetouch

Lummi Island ConservancyJoe Meche

Whatcom County Auditor’s Offi ce

ArtworkBob Markey

www.savetheolympicpeninsula.org

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The Whatcom Transportation Author-ity (WTA) provides many useful services to many citizens in Bellingham and a few destinations outside of the major Whatcom County city. Its buses are clean and comfort-able, and its staff at all levels is friendly and helpful. At present it is engaged in a strate-gic plan update. In previous articles going back several months and years (at Whatcom Watch’s website for Feb. 2015, Oct.-Nov. 2004, June 2004, May 2004), this author has provided a comprehensive critique of WTA as well as suggestions for making transit better. The following is a list of “Top 10 Strategic Issues that are under discussion” drawn up by WTA staff and a consultant for discussion with the several citizens and public offi cials formally involved in discus-sions of its planning in progress.

Since the author does not believe that this list represents good transit planning think-ing, but rather political expedience aimed at appeasing its rural-dominated board, a point-by-point critique is offered for each WTA item (starting with the author’s initials PLS). At the end of the critique are a few suggestions for improving this process.

It is important to note that 93 percent of WTA’s ridership is within Bellingham and the vast majority of its funding comes from within Bellingham. Citizens and public offi cials concerned about transit, growth management and effi cient use of public funds should pay heed to this matter.

WTA: 1. Consistency with previous strategic plan. WTA’s 2004 Strategic Plan placed a high priority on helping the City of Bellingham meet infi ll goals and develop urban villages through the creation of high frequency “GO Lines.” That plan envi-sioned the continued development of GO Lines as funds became available. Compared to other needs, is that still a high priority?

PLS: Would it not be better to expand or extend the successful GO lines rather than bump them to a lower priority (in favor of ineffi cient rural service expan-sions done mainly for political reasons?). WTA’s planning should try to help Bell-ingham meet Growth Management and mode-share targets in its plans.

WTA: 2. Balance between Bellingham and non-Bellingham services. Through-out our community outreach, many have voiced their concerns that the majority of people out in the county (those who do not live in Bellingham) are seeing little improve-ment in transit service while Bellingham’s service has improved considerably. For the sake of this Strategic Plan, what is the right balance, and what service types make the most sense for which areas?

PLS: The transit planning rule of thumb is that you need a density of at

least 7 residences per residential acre to make minimal service work. Much of Bellingham probably does not meet that threshold; probably none of Ferndale/Lynden or other sprawling smaller towns in Whatcom County. Transit ridership prospects in these areas are both dim and costly. Should we cut service in Belling-ham—where transit has the best chance of working—in order to fund empty or half-empty buses to other locations?

WTA: 3. Increasing demand and costs for paratransit service. We’re beginning to see increased ridership on paratransit. Unlike fixed-route service, paratransit costs generally rise in direct proportion to increases in demand. This trend continues to consume a higher percentage of WTA’s resources, yet carries a comparatively low number of riders. This issue is not unique to WTA; transit systems all over the country are facing similar situations.

PLS: Such services can cost as much as ten times (or more) the cost of regular bus services per rider. They also consume an inordinate share of WTA’s overall budget. According to WTA statistics and report-ing, it is far less expensive to contract with taxicabs for many of the trips now handled by the paratransit buses — es-pecially those that do not involve wheel-chairs. There could also be substantial savings in contracting out the remaining paratransit services to a private provider rather than having them under WTA’s very expensive hourly rates and overhead. This is being done by many similarly-sized transit agencies in the U.S. and Canada. WTA could also do much more in terms of screening those persons asking for such services to assure that only those truly in need take advantage of it. Introduc-ing fl exible regular bus services (already equipped with low fl oors, kneeling entries, wheelchair areas, etc.) that are able to deviate from fi xed routes to board some persons at or close to their residences could also reduce some of these costs.

WTA: 4. Limitations of fl ex routes.

WTA offers fl ex routes in three rural areas. This hybrid — between fi xed route and demand responsive service — improves our ability to serve people who live in these sparsely populated areas. In at least one area however, Blaine/Birch Bay, the popularity of fl exing is making it diffi cult for us to stay on schedule while keeping up with the demand. How do we solve this problem without creating more challenges?

PLS: WTA’s schedule problems are a direct outcome of an outdated and out-moded service planning framework (i.e., downtown pulse) change that planning framework and flex will work almost everywhere in the system. Additionally, you can shrink rather than expand the downtown Bellingham transit center. Well-designed fl ex routing can also handle some of the current demand for costly paratransit services.

WTA: 5. Service to Western Wash-ington University. Ridership demand for service to and from WWU is very high. As the proportion of students living off-campus has grown, demand has continued to increase. In addition, since introducing the universal bus pass (which provides unlimited rides to all WWU students), we have seen large growth in ridership among students who live within a mile of campus. WTA is providing signifi cant additional re-sources to accommodate them. Some people feel the resources WTA dedicates to serving WWU is out of balance with the needs of the rest of the community.

PLS: WWU students already support WTA fi nancially through the Alternative Transportation Fee. Getting students out of cars and onto buses also alleviates traf-fi c on many key arterials. WWU’s support of WTA probably is subsidizing some of the services outside of Bellingham. True, WWU could make itself more bicycle friendly and encourage students living nearby to walk or bike. WTA should identify who are the “some people” who feel that WTA should cut services to

Critique of WTA’s 2015 Strategic Plan Update

Continued on page 5

Preston L. Schiller did the research and preliminary planning that led to the highly successful express routes connecting Bellingham, Mount Vernon, Oak Harbor and Everett. He has taught courses in transportion and transit planning and sustainable transportation at WWU’s Huxley College of the Environment, Queen’s University School of Urban and Regional Planning and, currently, the University of Washington’s Civil and Environmental Engineering School’s Master’s program in Sustainable Transportation.

Join the Whatcom Watch FB Group

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December 2015 Whatcom Watch 3

photo: Joe Meche

Beaks and Bills

Joe Meche is a past president of the North Cascades Audubon Society and was a member of the board of directors for 20 years. He has been watching birds for more than 60 years and photographing birds and landscapes for more than 40 years. He has written more than 150 ar-ticles for Whatcom Watch.

Trumpeter Swan

Continued on page 5

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by Joe Meche

The typical sights and sounds of late October and early November evoked an avalanche of emotions from the past. When I was grow-ing up in southwest Louisiana, the change from hot and humid summer weather gave way to crisp and clear fall days. There was great anticipation when the temperatures moderated and the rice harvest began. Not long after the harvest and the ensuing cel-ebration of yet another successful season, the vast fi elds were silent until wintering waterfowl began to arrive from exotic faraway places like …. Canada! With hundreds of thousands of birds spending the winter close to home, the seeds of a future birdwatcher were sown.

From late fall into spring, the presence of immense flocks of waterfowl was noticeable every day as it seems they were constantly on the move to and from differ-ent foraging and resting sites. My hometown was surrounded by rice fi elds and the harvest always left ample forage, primarily for geese …. the noisy ones. If you’ve spent any time observing large fl ocks of snow geese, for instance, you know what I mean. They’re a gregarious lot and are hardly ever quiet. Considering my exposure to the outside world at an early age, this was music to my ears. It seems that the fi rst arrivals always came

in at night and that just added to the mystique for me.

When I lived in a couple of Rocky Mountain states, waterfowl were not a signifi cant part of the bird watching landscape. After moving to Bellingham, however, I felt like I was home. Whatcom County hosts some of the larg-est concentrations of wintering waterfowl on the West Coast, much to the delight of winter bird watchers. Our moderate climate usually provides ice-free and food-rich habitats for feeding and resting waterfowl. The deep water supports large numbers of diving species while the shallow estuaries and tidal fl ats are ideal for the dabblers.

Cooperative BirdsOne of the great appeals of wa-terfowl to birdwatchers is the fact that they’re usually out in the open and easy to see. This makes them ideal subjects for learning field identification and studying the behavioral characteristics of indi-vidual species. You could even say at times that waterfowl are coop-erative. Some species, but certainly not all, will come close enough for the handouts that some humans feel compelled to offer. However, feeding wild animals in general is not encouraged.

No matter how often I might wax upon favorite groups of birds, I always come around to water-fowl. Species size ranges from the magnifi cent trumpeter swans to diminutive buffl eheads. For my own enjoyment, I like to broaden the field to include loons and grebes since they often occupy the same habitats. Most species fi nd their own private places dur-ing the nesting season, but they congregate in large fl ocks come wintertime. While winter bird-ing is not for everyone, dedicated birdwatchers see it as a time for jubilation, tempered by all the appropriate layers of clothing. Comfort is the key to an enjoy-able day in the fi eld, regardless of the season.

The October arrival of snow geese in the area only served to rekindle my love for winter bird-ing and specifi cally for waterfowl. Most of the breeders from south-ern climes have already headed back to their wintering territories. Now, the days are fi lled with the great northern fl ocks that spend

the colder months entertaining us. Whatcom County shorelines, as well as the numerous freshwater lakes and ponds are the best places to spend time with waterfowl.

Whatever your focus, there is no better place to observe numerous species and hone your fi eld identi-fi cation skills than right here in our

own backyard. One of the single best places to see the most birds is also one of the most accessible and user-friendly places I’ve ever been. Properly known, that place is Se-miahmoo Bay/Drayton Harbor. I affectionately refer to it as BlaMoo, since it includes the entire Blaine waterfront and the tributaries of Dakota and California Creeks. I lead a number of Washington Ornithological Society fi eld trips to this location every year and it ranks as one of the top hotspots in the country for winter birding. It’s one of the premiere locations on Washington’s Important Bird Areas program and anchors the Cascade Loop of the Great Wash-ington State Birding Trail.

Follow the SunA good rule of thumb for win-ter birding is to make a plan for maximum coverage, given the shorter daylight hours. You might consider the route that I always use on fi eld trips to the area. To start at the top, travel north on Interstate 5 to the last Blaine exit, #276. Negotiate two roundabouts

to go under the freeway and cross the railroad tracks and begin the day at Blaine’s Marine Park. In winter, the fi rst view of waterfowl resting just offshore can be mind-boggling. Thousands of birds are often resting in this protected corner of Semiahmoo Bay.

One of the main pieces of equip-ment for your day in the fi eld is a good scope, with accompanying tripod, of course. From the fi rst overlook at Marine Park, scan the large fl ocks of American wigeons for the odd Eurasian wigeon that might be mixed in with the regulars. The Eurasians are always considered a special sighting since they’re far less common than their American counterparts. No matter the tide, closer in to the waterline will also be dabbling green-winged teal, along with more mallards than you care to count.

For the best viewing, if you’re able, leave your car behind, walk the shoreline of the park, and continue to the public pier at the end of Marine Drive. This pier has undergone recent changes making it more desirable than ever for birdwatchers. No cars are allowed on the pier and it’s only a short walk from the parking area to the overlook. From this vantage point, you can see everything that fl ies, swims, and dives in the channel that separates Semiahmoo from the Blaine waterfront. Diving sea ducks are the main attractions here, along with three species of loons, both goldeneye species, and as many as fi ve species of grebes. On a good day, you will be hard pressed to pull yourself away from this one spot.

Pintails, Mallards and Geese Oh My!After a thorough walking tour of the Blaine waterfront, the birds of Semiahmoo beckon. As you drive the perimeter of Drayton Harbor northern pintails often crowd the shoreline by the thousands. More pintails will greet you as you drive onto the Semiahmoo Spit. From

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Unsung Heroes

Kathryn Fentress and her husband moved to Bellingham 20 years ago for the water, trees, fresh air and mountains. She is a psychologist in private practice and believes that spirit is in everything. Living in harmony with nature reflects a reverence for life. She delights in finding and meeting those people whose stories so inspire all of us. Continued on next page

photo: Lifetouch

Know of any unsung environ-mental heroes you’d like to see profiled in future columns? Email me at [email protected]

Unsung Heroes Anyone?

Continued on page 6

Mary Trask, ARAS (Acceptance–Respect–Affection–Support) Community Service Director.

Film Makers/Writers Can Help Build

Environmental Movement in Whatcom and

Around the World

CAMP [Climate Action Media Project] will meet on Wednesday, 12/16/15, to discuss how film makers and writers can play a role in supporting local events and groups who will continue to fight against climate chaos in the wake of the Climate Sum-mit in Paris that is continuing as you read this.

We will review clips from media coverage of the Summit as well as “Salish Teachings, which was shot by Darrell Hillaire at Lummi Nation last month specifically for its premier at the Paris Summit.

We will continue the unfin-ished business of organizing a “film crew” for Whatcom County so ongoing projects can both document what cli-mate warriors do while they are taking direct action AND create messages for multiple formats that will educate and motivate more people to join our ranks.

This “blurb” was written just days after the massacre in Paris. We will meet a month after that tragedy. We can-not and should not ignore nor overstate the connection between events in the Middle East and Europe and global climate chaos.

Families moved from farms to cities in Syria due to severe droughts in that region in this century. What you do here in Whatcom about the global environment has an impact.

We welcome your participa-tion in these efforts!

CAMP Meeting[Third] Wednesday, December 16 Public Market (Terra) 1530 Cornwall and YorkCommunity Room right next to Film Is Truth5:30 pm social time 6:00 pm start; 8:00 pm endTo continue the discussion and new ideas for the New Year!

We value your input. And even if you can’t attend our meetings – feel free to call or e-mail us with your sug-gestions!

Contact: Jon Shaughnessy, (360) 671-0248, [email protected]

by Kathryn Fentress

Mary Trask was born and raised in the Midwest and moved to Washington 20 years ago. This summer, she and her family relocated to Bellingham. She recently organized a local drive to send bikes to Africa.

Kathryn: Have you done other volunteer work before the bicycle project?

Mary: Yes. I have a deep de-sire in me to be of service, even when I was a child. In 1979, my husband Bob set up a nonprofit called ARAS, which stands for Acceptance, Respect, Affection and Support: the key elements of a healthy relationship (www.arasfoundation.org). I joined in 1980 and morphed the focus into a community service angle. I am most fulfilled and happiest doing community work so it became my “baby.” Over the years, I would listen for ideas that could use an intervention. We generated many opportunities from beginning to end, and other times we supported the projects of other agencies in the community. I am comfort-able in leadership positions or as a volunteer.

We settled in Sammamish, a community with a higher stan-dard of living than what I was accustomed to, and higher than Bellingham. My daughter was an only child so I supported her in a variety of activities such as Girl Scouts and PSA. I soon realized that kids there didn’t really have any idea of the real world. So I cre-ated a program for the elementary school as a way of engaging kids in volunteer projects. I created a menu of options and asked the kids in K-6 classrooms what they would like to do the most. I be-

lieve that people are basically good and want to help but don’t know how to or feel they don’t have any-thing to offer. The menu allowed us to match the kid with projects that turned them on. The kids loved it so I created a large note-book, the Lean on Me Program. The word got out about the school project and soon other community organizations like the Boy Scouts, church groups, and service clubs asked to borrow the book. The book contained resources, ideas for projects and hints about how to make things work well.

Kathryn: I love the idea of the Re-source Book because it empowers other people and groups to engage so your efforts ripple out and continue even after you leave the community. How did the bike drive come about?

Ten years ago, an older woman gave me an old-fashioned bike with the upright handle bars and comfortable seat. It was worn but was so much better for my body

to ride. I loved it! That Christmas, my husband gave me a new cherry red bike of the same design. So then I had this older well-used bike that I wanted to do some-thing helpful with. One day I saw a little article about an Africa Bicycle to Ghana project. At that moment, I knew I wanted my bike to go to Ghana. The head of the program was in Idaho and I called him. He directed me to a group in Seattle that would be loading bikes in a container for Ghana in a couple of weeks. I started call-ing people I knew and soon had 12 bikes and everybody was really excited with no notice time.

I decided then to go for a bigger drive, coordinating again with the leader of the program. We have sent over 7,000 bikes in ten years from Sammamish. I did my first bike drive here in Bellingham in

June. We connected with all the police departments for unclaimed bikes. We collected 250 bikes and several hundred bike parts with 39 volunteers and people seemed to like it.

However, I am not sure I will do this again. I found out that many people here in town donate bikes to Sterling Bike Works. They have a program to teach at-risk youth to repair them and then donate them to kids who can’t afford them. Most of the nine bicycle shops in town support Sterling Bike Works (go to www.sterlingbikeworks.org). These bikes stay here in the community. I think there is room for both, donations local and away. The Bikes to Africa project (go to www.bikesforafrica.net) is now expanding to Sierra Leone. At least 90,000 bikes have gone to Africa and local people have been taught how to teach others in their com-munities how to maintain their bikes. These bikes have had a huge impact on the economy and the social order, empowering women, in particular. You can check bike projects on You Tube. My favorite is one about a nurse who had to walk all day everyday to deliver medicines and now can ride her bike the long distances.

When we moved up here, my husband and daughter asked me to take a year off before diving deeply into new projects, to find a better balance between family and volunteer work. I have done a few things besides the bike proj-ect. Bob is minister at the Unity Spiritual Center and hopes that it can become a hub of service proj-

ects in the community. We have a monthly food drive at the church. We have an outreach committee that has been involved with the In-terfaith Coalition and coat drives for people at the Mission. Beyond this, I am not sure yet where or how I will connect with the com-munity. I love Bellingham and we are so happy here. People seem to really care about the environment. The Volunteer Center is also really wonderful. The good news is that a ton of people are already doing things. It is just that I have to figure out where I fit in.

Kathryn: So how are you doing with finding the balance?

I have been focusing on putting our house and yard in good order. By spring, I will be chomping at the bit. I will post any projects on the www.volunteermatch.org website. I can be reached directly through email: [email protected].

Kathryn: What you do to fill your own cup?

I am blessed to be surrounded by so many dear friends who support me. My friend Kelly helps keep me from getting over-committed. By knowing I am making a difference and being around people who are also really excited about making a difference keeps me inspired.

Kathryn: What message do you have for our readers?

I think we are really effective when we come from the heart. I

We can make a difference every day.

We do things because of

our passions to share our gifts rather

than the outcome.

Mary Trask Sends Bicycles to Africa

Film Makers/Writers Can Help Build

Environmental Movement in Whatcom and

Around the World

CAMP [Climate Action Media Project] will meet on Wed., Dec. 16, to discuss how filmmakers and writers can play a role in supporting local events and groups who will continue to fight against climate chaos in the wake of the Climate Summit in Paris that is continuing as you read this.

We will review clips from media coverage of the Summit as well as “Salish Teachings, which was shot by Darrell Hillaire at Lummi Nation last month specifically for its premier at the Paris Summit.

We will continue the unfin-ished business of organizing a “film crew” for Whatcom County so ongoing projects can both document what cli-mate warriors do while they are taking direct action AND create messages for multiple formats that will educate and motivate more people to join our ranks.

This “blurb” was written just days after the massacre in Paris. We will meet a month after that tragedy. We can-not and should not ignore nor overstate the connection between events in the Middle East and Europe and global climate chaos.

Families moved from farms to cities in Syria due to severe droughts in that region in this century. What you do here in Whatcom about the global environment has an impact.

We welcome your participa-tion in these efforts!

CAMP Meeting[Third] Wednesday, December 16 Public Market (Terra) 1530 Cornwall and YorkCommunity Room right next to Film Is Truth5:30 p.m. social time 6:00 p.m. start; 8:00 p.m. endTo continue the discussion and new ideas for the New Year!

We value your input. And even if you can’t attend our meetings — feel free to call or e-mail us with your sug-gestions!

Contact: Jon Shaughnessy, (360) 671-0248, [email protected]


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WWU so we can have a broader discussion.

WTA: 6. Appropriate levels of reserves. Over the past sev-eral years, WTA’s undesignated reserves have been growing. What is the right balance between saving for a rainy day (to avoid cutting service in an economic down-turn, for example) and spending resources on service to the com-munity?

PLS: Transit agencies do need substantial reserves for two rea-sons: fi rstly, to be able to meet once-a-decade fl eet replacements; and, secondly to be able to cope with economic downturns; But the levels of reserves should be discussed in the context of overall fi nancial planning and effi ciency measures.

WTA: 7. Customer-focused

information technology costs versus benefi ts and other oppor-tunities. Do the benefi ts of major technology projects (real-time arrival information, for example) justify the cost to implement and maintain them? How much of our resources should we invest in technology at the expense of more service?

PLS: WTA should defi nitely join the rest of the transit pro-fession in offering these rider-attracting services — many of which are not very expensive and some involve software that can be shared with other agen-cies. Many people in Bellingham (current or potential riders) have mobile devices that can take ad-vantage of these.

WTA: 8. Bellingham Station. Twice each hour during the day, Bellingham Station is at full capac-ity. As the community grows and

service increases, WTA will need to consider either expanding the facility or signifi cantly changing the layout of our system.

PLS: This “capacity problem” is a self-infl icted wound – an ar-tifact of the outmoded/outgrown pulse system and poorly-crafted route structure. Abandoning the pulse and reorganizing or combining routes so that key routes are longer or more direct between origins and destinations and crossing some other routes to facilitate transfers outside of downtown could mean that Bellingham Station could be reduced in size and made easier for passengers to fi nd buses and execute transfers.

WTA: 9. Contracting with other entities to provide services. How much should we pursue con-tracts for service?

PLS: This could be a very

Continued from page 2 reasonable approach to certain services whose costs greatly ex-ceed their benefi ts.

WTA: 10. Evening and week-end service. We provide signifi -cantly less service on evenings and weekends compared to weekdays. Riders in our survey identified increased evening and weekend service as a top priority.

PLS: Yes, evening and weekend service is important, especially in a city with large student ridership, and many discretionary evening and weekend trips for shopping, services and recreation that could be accommodated by transit.

PLS: What can or should be done in this planning process to help WTA serve those most likely to use its services rather than simply appease the majority of its board (see below, Sugges-tions).

A Few Suggestions for Future Transportation Planning1. Read the Whatcom Watch WTA article for Feb. 2015 as well as several older, but still relevant articles, archived at whatcomwatch.org;

May 2004, June 2004, October-November 2004 and a related article August 2010.2. While there are a few members of the city of Bellingham’s Transportation Commission serving on the WTA strategic planning advisory

committees, their expertise and potential contributions are being dwarfed by numerous other committee members who appear to be fully willing to go along with materials (such as the 10 WTA points critiqued above) rather than educate themselves on transit and planning issues. The City Council, mayor and staff, should involve themselves more directly in this process and try to prevent WTA’s planning from being hijacked by rural minorities.

3. The WTA strategic planning process should follow good planning practices and create visions of a “transit future” and then work back from a consensus vision through scenarios in order to achieve a meaningful plan. That should involve, at the very least, a “clean slate” or “how would we re-design the whole system?” scenario. Route planning and resource allocation should be guided by various available tools for analyzing where the greatest potential growth of ridership could or should occur.

Critique of WTA’s 2015 Strategic Plan Update

the narrow neck of the spit, you can see birds on both sides of this natural formation. On the deep-water side you can add three species of scoters to your list for the day, while the lee side hosts even more pintails, mallards, and the gregarious Canada geese. This is also a great place to see Pacifi c black brant between November and April.

I always park at the end of the spit to take a lunch break and prepare for the best part of the day. From the vantage point of the last remaining Alaska Packers Associa-tion buildings and the public shore trail, the view alone is worth the trip. Throw in every imaginable diving bird you can think of and this is the perfect way to complete

your day. Throughout the winter months and into spring the overall number of birds increases at this prime location. The public pier behind the resort is one of the best places for close-up views of long-tailed ducks, loons, and grebes. Large rafts of birds stretch across the bay to White Rock, BC.

Although it’s tempting to stay in one place for extended periods of time, an easy walk along both sides of the spit will add further to your day of discovery. Along with the waterfowl you will see throughout the day, this area is also noted for good numbers of wintering raptors like peregrine falcons and bald eagles, several species of gulls, and large fl ocks of shorebirds. If you plan ahead for a good day of winter birding, BlaMoo will deliver.

Continued from page 3Winter Is for Waterfowl

would tell parents that your kids are never too young to be involved in community efforts, even if it just to smile at older people, to do simple acts of kindness. When people thank me, I thank them back for their involvement and remind them that every slice of the pie and every person is important. There are so many distractions now, I think we have to practice coming back to center and I think community service brings us back

to the center. We can make a dif-ference every day. We do things because of our passions to share our gifts rather than the outcome. We can’t focus too much on the results but on the process. We have an obligation to our children and our world.

Kathryn: Thank you and wel-come to Bellingham. You have so much enthusiasm and experience to share. I trust you will fi nd the special calling, the spark here in this community for you.

Mary TraskContinued from previous page

photo: Joe MecheBuffl ehead


A Really Big Books to Prisoners

Bazaar

Just in time for all your gift list needs and books-for-a-cold-dark-winter survival kit.n When: Saturday, 12/12/2015,

9 a.m. to 3 p.m. n Where: 228 East Champion

St., between State Street and Railroad Ave, (by the downtown bus station.) Follow the balloons!

n Who: Bellingham Books to Prisoners and its hard-working volunteers.

nWhat: Tons of books (there must be an actual ton!) fic-tion, non-fiction, hardback, softback, books for children and young adult readers!

nWhy: because even at book rate, the price of shipping adds up. For a little extra, we’ll wrap up your books to ship to friends and fam-ily elsewhere! Bring your friends and family.

by Whatcom Fair Voting

Trustworthy Elections require a voting system with solid integrity, protected from tampering or cor-ruption of the tallies of votes cast. This review does not deal with who can cast a ballot (registration, etc.) — which are valid concerns. This analysis starts at the point where a paper ballot is received in the elections system (drop-boxes and postal delivery to the auditor’s office.)

Whatcom County has a vote counting system that meets a strong procedural, high-integrity standard of checks and balances.

We have official “Observers” usually representing the political parties and other distinct interest groups like the League of Women Voters (LWV), but any person may take a brief training by the Elec-tions staff, sign an oath of how to do the task, and thus be permitted to “Observe.” These observers are allowed to be in the rooms where any of the ballot and vote manage-ment activities are taking place. They may not touch any materials, and may speak only to a Supervisor to ask questions, or for designated activities.

The general sequential process is as follows: The ballots are mailed to the voters. A person votes his or her paper ballot by marking an inked line in the read area for their intended votes, puts it into the secrecy envelope and puts the secrecy envelope (containing the ballot) into a slightly larger outer envelope. On the back flap of the outer envelope, the voter signs his or her name. The voter then either mails in the ballot or deposits it in a drop-box at one of the locations established and advertised by the auditor’s office.

The envelopes containing the ballots are gathered regularly by two staffers from the auditor’s of-fice, from the distributed official drop-boxes and the U.S. Post Of-fice. In the office, they are placed into random batches of about 100 ballots, each batch put into a large plastic tray. Each tray has a unique “ID” number and is thus identified on a log sheet created for each batch. The trays and ballots are stored in a safe.

The auditor’s office has a copy of each voter’s signature in their database system. Before the bal-lots are removed from their return envelopes, they are processed by persons trained to compare the signature on the (still sealed) outer envelope against the signature on record. For the purposes of this discussion of integrity, we know that the signature has been visu-ally verified; therefore the ballot

is declared to be from a registered voter, and this is registered in the database. Hence, only one ballot from that voter will be processed.

In order to have the ballots pro-cessed, they need to be removed from the outer and the secrecy envelopes, and they are separated. At this point, the ballot cannot be identified as to the voter who cast it.

Then, every ballot is visually inspected and reviewed by staff-ers, to pre-determine that voter intent will be read correctly by the scanners. Any marks except a proper vote usually requires that the ballot be manually duplicated by staff (always two people — one marking; the other checking). Log sheets are kept and signed by both, and the voter-marked ballots are moved to a different storage place — and both of the log sheets are numbered for cross-referencing so that at any later time, the voter-marked ballots may be retrieved for verification.

Ballot DuplicationWashington State law requires that effort must be made to count the vote according to the “voter intent.” There are 24 different “voter intent” scenarios that are recognized as guides for the staff. So, there is an initial visual in-spection of every ballot. Where irregular marks are seen, the ballot is duplicated following that guide. In instances where a voter’s intent cannot be determined, a duplicate ballot is made, leaving out that item. The same will happen if the computer-scanner spots an irregu-larity — the ballot is removed and a duplicate made and re-inserted in the process.

Batches of BallotsOther safeguards include: bal-lots (and their digital twins) are handled and stored in “batches,” arbitrary bunches of usually about 100 ballots placed and managed together. Several batches may be placed in a storage box. Each batch and box is identified by a unique number, and all the activities for managing the ballots are registered in a logging-system. If some ballots get withdrawn from a batch for some kind of verification, they get re-registered in a new batch, and

the record of the batch they were taken from gets edited to show the lower count. All these movements are checked by staff and a super-visor, and signed by them both. The boxed batches are kept in a secured room except when being processed.

Security of the ComputersAh! The processing!

The computer system is located in a locked and secure room. There are industrial, quality, high-speed scanners, which make and save a digital copy of the votes that were marked on the paper ballot by the voter. They are directly connected to the processing computers and

take only seconds to read a batch. At predetermined and an-

nounced times, so that observers may be present, the ballots in batches are ‘read’ into the com-puter system by a high-speed scan-ner, one batch at a time. The batch numbers are registered on the log sheets of each scanner.

One big safeguard is that the scanners and computers that read the marks on the ballots, and store and count the votes have no communication-connections to the outside world. Programs are loaded onto the computers from certified copies on digital media. Data cannot be sent directly to or from these computers and any oth-ers. The computers have features that would block any attempt to send/receive thru the electric power lines.

All vote-total digital output from those computers is transferred out only by manual transport of a re-movable external disc drive. The data is copied onto such a disc, which is carried (by two people, for integrity) to an administrative room to be incorporated into the permanent storage systems (we call this a “sneaker-net” referring to their shoes.) For verification, those

vote totals are also printed in both locations (the computer room before they go out, and again in the administrative office, so there can be a double-check.) Then the results will be made ready to go public.

But! There is another step!

Audits and ObserversThe computerized results are subjected to a wonderful activ-ity – a manual double-check or a mini-audit.

One major activity that the Observers do is randomly select batches for integrity verification. While the paper-ballot batches are being scan-read by the com-puter systems, the Observers in that room have been granted the role of designating some random batches to be later verified by a hand-count. Those batches are then sealed in special boxes, tagged, registered and stored in a separate place.

The double-check hand-count takes place soon afterwards (usu-ally the next morning.) Those randomly-selected batches of pa-per ballots are taken to a meeting-room, and any Observers may be present. The Staff opens the paper ballot boxes and hand-count the selected races (twice, by two teams of staffers.) If those two counts agree, then the computer-ized counts (which were printed but not disclosed) are announced for the first time, and everybody knows whether the computer-counts numbers match the hand-counts – or are different! It is an independent, basic double-check.

If the vote-tally numbers differ between the computer-count and the hand-count, then an investiga-tion is started (right there, in the same room). The paper ballots are intensely scrutinized for any irregularity which might have been understood one way by the computer-system, and another way by the staff. The most com-mon reason for a difference has been that a pen mark by the voter on a paper ballot was lighter than recommended (required) which led the staff-people to see it as “a vote” but the more-sensitive computer-system to call it “a non-vote — a blank.” When the staff and managers find such a ballot, it will be removed from the batch and a substitute ballot sheet marked (duplicated) to coincide with the presumed Voter-Intent to be inserted. That “repaired” batch is run through the scanner/computer system again and new results are brought to the review team (with Public Observers still there). With almost no exceptions, over about a dozen years, the com-puter tally with the vote properly marked, matched the hand count first found by the verify-staff. No errors, and no corruption.

“We must insist on

having Hand Countable

Paper Ballots!”

Whatcom CountyVoting and Vote Counting with Integrity

Continued on next page

photo: Whatcom County Auditor’s Office

Trays of ballot envelopes, as they are assembled into random “batches” at the start of the process, as they arrive in the Whatcom County Auditors’ Office.

This article is a group effort of the 15-year-old non-partisan “Whatcom Fair Voting” group. Comments to the article can be addressed to Marian Beddill via: <[email protected]>.

Thursday,Jan. 28, 2016

Special Documentary Screening in Bellingham

Did you know that when the Taliban ruled Afghani-stan, taking a photo was considered a crime? “Frame by Frame,” an award-winning documentary, follows four Afghan photojournalists who now face the realities of build-ing a free press. The film is coming to Bellingham in January 2016.

Whatcom Watch is collabo-rating with Pickford Film Center (PFC), Bellingham’s independent movie house, to show “Frame By Frame” (85 minutes runtime) on Thurs., Jan. 28, 2016, at 6:30 p.m. PFC is located at 1318 Bay Street in Bellingham.

Before the film, you can meet the editor of Whatcom Watch in PFC’s lobby and learn about volunteer op-portunities with independent media. After the film, there will be a brief discussion about freedom of the press and photojournalism.

Regular PFC ticket prices are in effect: $10.75 for Gen-eral Admission; $7.25 for PFC Members; $8 for Stu-dents. To purchase tickets, go to http://www.pickfordfilm-center.org/programs/pick-ford/frame-by-frame/or the ticket window at PFC. For more information on the doc-umentary, go to http://www.framebyframethefilm.com/


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by Kristin Eberhard

Election results are in for What-com County, Washington, where a proposal for a giant coal export terminal puts communities on the front lines of the fi ght against dirty energy. Thanks to a fl ood of money from coal interests, voters approved a coal-backed proposition to change the county voting system to district-only voting. This plan likely would have locked in a pro-coal major-ity on the council if voters had not also approved a competing measure. The competing measure instructs the county redistricting commission to redraw district boundaries (see map here: http://www.sightline.org/2015/11/09/whatcom-county-wa-hands-coal-a-sack-of-no/). Under the coal-

backed plan, voters would have ended up voting in three districts with boundaries gerrymandered to dilute the urban vote and give pro-coal conservatives a majority on the council.

Coal won district-only voting, but it lost gerrymandered districts.

Under the new fi ve-district plan, voters in urban Districts 1 and 2 will probably elect progressive councilors; voters in rural Districts 3 and 4 will likely elect conserva-tive councilors; and coastal Dis-trict 5 will be a toss-up. Because the county as a whole leans left, the two at-large councilors are likely to be more progressive. In the end, the anti-coal representatives will likely end up with four or fi ve of seven seats.

In sum: despite another round of big spending by fossil-fuel in-terests, Whatcom voters managed to prevent them from locking in pro-coal gerrymandering.

In the same election, the com-peting redistricting proposals were joined by a raft of measures that

changed the rules of the game for revising districts: a contest over the rules for changing the rules. The outcomes of these votes have reset the odds for achieving proportional representation vot-ing in Whatcom in the future. Voters overwhelmingly approved a proposal to make it easier to amend the County Charter via citizens’ initiative. They more narrowly approved three pro-posals making it harder for the Charter Review Commission and the County Council to propose Charter amendments and nearly impossible (requiring a unanimous vote) for the County Council to propose changes to county vot-ing systems. The upshot of these changes will be to put citizens themselves in the driver’s seat for any future changes in Whatcom County voting methods.

In the nearer term, Democrat-ic-leaning officials have taken almost complete control of the Whatcom County Council . Western Washington University

professor (and progressive) Todd Donovan comfortably won the District 1 seat and, even in the low-turnout election, progres-sive Satpal Sidhu edged out Republican-endorsed Kathy Kershner for the District 2 seat. The County Council will consist of six Democratic-leaning coun-cilors plus Barbara Brenner, who is politically independent.

Tuesday’s outcome is good for anti-coal advocates, but it’s not good for democracy. A county with 40-45 percent Republican-leaning voters has zero Republi-can-aligned councilors?! Too bad Republican leaders in Whatcom tried to grab disproportionate rep-resentation on the council. If they had supported, rather than buried, proportional representation, con-servatives would likely win three seats instead of zero.

This article was originally pub-lished Nov. 9 on Sightline.org: http://www.sightline.org/2015/11/09/whatcom-county-wa-hands-coal-a-sack-of-no/.

Whatcom County Hands Coal a Sack of No Big Coal’s Gerrymandering Scheme Mostly Thwarted

The batches of paper ballots are then archived under a manage-ment system of coded identifi ca-tion of each batch.

The Computers and SoftwareComputer software is a funda-mental part of the system, and the programs might be subject to corruption. Federal and State law requires that all such systems be reviewed and certifi ed as reliable (not having features that could be used to corrupt the reported vote-tallies.) Our system in Whatcom County did meet that certifi ca-tion requirement when it was purchased.

But all such machines are sub-ject to eventual failures, so there must be a management program to replace them, with new models that also have been certifi ed. We believe that any new equipment (hardware and software) must be carefully reviewed and found reli-able (i.e., certifi ed).

Whoops! The federal offi ce that should have been doing that had essentially drifted into almost non-existence. But it has recently been re-activated, and new programs are now beginning to obtain Federal certifi cation. Therefore, jurisdic-tions like our county and state may be examining them in the near future.

But the Washington State cer-tification process is still idle. Therefore, one task of the public is to push to re-start the WA State certifi cation program, and assure that those activities adequately review any new computer systems and then produce Certifi cation Reports on them, so that they

Voting and Vote Counting With IntegrityContinued from previous page

Kristin Eberhard is a senior researcher at Sightline.org in Portland, Ore. Email her [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @KristinEberhard.

photo: Whatcom County Auditor’s Offi ce

may be acquired. That must be done before our (“old”) systems start crashing! Some experts are talking about perhaps only three more years of life for the current systems (thus, 2018.)

We hold (almost without ex-ception) that the votes must be

The go anywhere,attach to anything

tripod5 models to choose from

GorillaPod

delivered to the elections offi ce marked on paper ballots by the voters. No electronic/digital vot-ing. No touchscreen voting. No internet voting. Those can all be hacked and corrupted. The paper ballot is physical, thus verifi able, whereas electronic records are not.

(A few exceptions are made for special cases such as military voters overseas, and voters who are blind or have other disabilities.)

We must insist on having Hand Countable Paper Ballots!

As explained, we (the auditor’s staff and the observers) use those paper ballots to actually do some hand-counts as a double-check on the machine counts. With these process steps, all of us can have confidence that our votes have been correctly counted and reported.

This is a public education article by Whatcom Fair Voting, which has been in operation for over a decade.

So, what needs to be done, and by whom? We believe that every county (and why not every state) should adopt the ballot manage-ment methods, which have been used so successfully in Whatcom County. An essential tool for this is the adequate, and certifi ed, com-puters and software. Washington State has to do the certifi cation of new election machines.

Whatcom Fair Voting (WFV) is a non-partisan ad-hoc grass-roots citizen’s group working to promote electoral process integ-rity by:n Researching voting improve-

mentsn Encouraging full citizen par-

ticipationn Informing the public and

elected offi cials on voting issuesn Supporting safeguards to en-

sure fair and accurate voting, accountability and process transparency

n Monitoring elections legisla-tion.

One of the three scanners, with its computer, in the secure, always-locked, processing room.


Continued from page 6

Lummi Island Heritage Trust

Lummi Island Heritage Trust is inviting the greater, off-island community to help raise the funds needed to complete the acquisition phase of the quarry project (see story). Restoration of the scenic shoreline view seen from Bellingham and Chuckanut will be but one of the benefits to the broader community. Local fisheries will benefit from enhanced salmon and crab habitat, and in the future, a low-impact saltwater access preserve will allow small boat and pedestrian access.

To learn more about how you can help, visit our website at: www.liht.org, or contact us at PO Box 158, Lummi Island, WA 98262, by phone: (360) 758-7997 or email: [email protected].

800 tons of rock per hour. Hours of operation extended to the legal allowable limit, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Sat-urday. Tug boats came and went as barges were loaded, occasionally at night under lights. Prevailing winds carried dust and noise into homes sitting north of the quarry, while blasts sometimes knocked pictures off walls. High pitched drilling brought to mind some monstrous dentist boring into a giant tooth.

What started out as a NIMBY (not in my backyard) protest by neighbors soon took on greater significance. Quarry operations were located on the shoreline of Smugglers Cove, which opens out into Hale Passage. Mining and barging activity threatened the once beautiful cove with its pocket beaches, eel grass and kelp beds, forage fish and juvenile salmon. This had to become a fight bigger than a few cranky neighbors. Early in 2011, a telephone call to the citizen organization Preserve Our Islands (POI) helped set the stage.

Good AdvicePOI was instrumental in leading a 10-year effort to stop expansion of a gravel pit on Maury Island, located in South Puget Sound off Vashon Island near Seattle.

When we called, the Maury Island quarry property had just been pur-chased from the mining company owner with public and private funds to create a major marine preserve. POI Executive Director Amy Carey encouraged us when she said: “You can do this. We started with three people around a kitchen table.” Her first piece of advice was to “get a good lawyer and work with the regulatory and legal systems, do your homework and be persistent!”

Getting OrganizedThe LI Conservancy took that advice and immediately hired an experienced land use attorney. We created a “Quarry Campaign” website to raise public awareness and solicit tax deductible dona-tions for a legal fund. Happily, a neighbor of the quarry turned out to be a talented videographer who understands the power of a visual image. Isaac Colgan created a video highlighting our concerns, including the increased danger of a serous landslide if mining were allowed to expand. (To see the vid-eo, go to https://goo.gl/wTupfZ or search for “Lummi Island Quarry Expansion” on YouTube.)

Months earlier, the quarry owner Lummi Rock LLC had

requested approval to mine an additional 27.5 acres at the site. Isaac’s video dramatically zooms in on the island and quarry pit as he explains how a 47.5-acre pit would further affect the Lummi Island shoreline. A 20-acre scar disfigures the scene and once dou-bled, dominates the view visible from points far north and south of Bellingham. The video has more than 2,400 hits on YouTube (as of Nov. 17, 2015).

Aerial footage included in the video was shot with the help of a local pilot (who prefers to remain anonymous). Since the spring of 2010, the pilot had been flying his plane over the quarry, taking pho-tos in an attempt to alert county officials about what he thought was illegal expansion of the mine. He sent the photos to county authorities asking for an investi-gation. In response, authorities from Whatcom County Planning and Development Services, which issued the operating permit, and the Washington Department of Natural Resources, which oversaw mining reclamation and lease boundaries, paid a visit to the Lummi Island quarry.

Sure enough, it was true. The mine operators had exceeded their permit boundaries and con-structed a new haul road without the required permit. For the next three years, our faithful pilot

continued to monitor the quarry from the air, providing invaluable photographic documentation for citizen action and regulatory response. The quarry operators had operated for years without effective oversight, hidden from view by a buffer of trees on land, and only visible by water or air. This was about to change.

Gaining MomentumChance encounters brought more talents to the effort. Jeff Otis, a land use consultant with 30 years experience, got involved as a result of a backyard chat while visiting his rental property near the quarry. He contributed many hours of pro bono expertise over the next three years, especially in the area of SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) law. An island lawyer became the pro bono legal liaison with our Seattle land use lawyer. A temporary “Quarry Campaign” website (which has since been shuttered) was faithfully main-tained by Nancy Ging, an island volunteer with web host expertise. Dozens of people donated money to the legal fund, wrote letters and comments, and attended hearings.

Regulatory IssuesIn the beginning, we encountered a steep learning curve, starting with the appeal of a SEPA deter-

mination in 2011 for the quarry expansion application. Paul and Leslie Dempsey and I did our best to respond to the legalistic forms required and paid the $750 fee. Quarry operations were autho-rized by a complex array of regula-tory agencies: Whatcom County Planning and Development Ser-vices (and their Shoreline Man-agement Program), two divisions of the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) – shoreline aquatic and upland forestry; the Northwest Clean Air Agency; the Washington Depart-ment of Ecology; the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife; and the Army Corps of Engineers. Each of these agencies had a par-ticular area of interest, sometimes with overlapping authority.

It was clear early on that com-plaints and code violations needed to be reported to the right person in the right office. For example, nothing happened when an oil spill allegedly caused by quarry activities was reported to the Coast Guard, beyond a cursory sail-by look; however, oil spills reported to the Washington De-partment of Ecology in 2012 were taken very seriously, and they have the means and authority to investigate. Complaints needed to be accompanied by specific information like parcel numbers and specific code violations and, if possible, photographs. We learned the importance of read-ing and understanding regulating permits and relevant county code and state law.

Cordial, credible relationships with regulatory officials and employees were also important, understanding that these people are busy and under a lot of pres-sure from disparate and often conflicting parties. Personnel and budget limitations mean regular

“This had to become a

fight bigger than a few

cranky neighbors.”



From Hard Rock Mine to Nature PreserveWashington

State Recycling Association

Seeks Nominees for Annual Recycling Awards

The Washington State Re-cycling Association (WSRA) is seeking nominations for its annual Recycler of the Year awards, which spot-light individuals, businesses, government agencies and community organizations that are making outstanding contributions to expanding and strengthening recycling and waste prevention. WSRA welcomes nominations of individuals and organizations that have demonstrated note-worthy dedication, innova-tion and success in recycling initiatives across the state.

Award categories include Individual Recycler, Public Agency, Institution, Non-Profit, Higher Education In-stitution, Business Generator, Public Education, Youth Edu-cation, Innovation, Nucor Steel Recycling Business, and the Recycling Hall of Fame. View the 2015 Recyclers of the Year on www.wsra.net.

A committee of recycling professionals and community members will review 2016 Re-cycler of the Year nominations and select recipients, whose accomplishments will be fea-tured at the annual Awards Banquet on Tuesday evening at the WSRA Conference, “To Recycling and Beyond,” on May 15-18, 2016 at the Wenatchee Convention Cen-ter in Wenatchee, WA.

Nominations are due by January 15, 2016. Detailed criteria and nomination forms are available on the WSRA website. Contact the WSRA office at 206-244-0311 for application assistance or more information.

About WSRAThe Washington State Recy-cling Association (WSRA), formed in 1976, is a nonprofit 501(c)6 organization that pro-vides leadership, networking, advocacy and education to foster the expansion, diversity and economic vitality of re-cycling in support of sustain-able resource management. Its 500+ members include private, community and gov-ernment recycling agencies; generators of recyclables; col-lectors; processors; transport-ers; brokers; commodity mar-kets; recycled content product manufacturers; and others. Learn more at www.wsra.net.

This aerial photo of Lummi Mountain shows the orientation of the Lummi Island quarry property and pit. The shoreline and Smugglers Cove open into Hale Passage in the foreground with the San Juan Islands seen in the distance to the west. The forested areas include private land holdings, Lummi Island Scenic Estates residential community and Washington Department of Natural Resources NRCA’s- Natural Resource Conservation Areas protected as outstanding examples of native ecosystems and habitat for endangered, threatened and sensitive plants and animals, and scenic landscapes.

photo: Lummi Island Conservancy


Whatcom Watch Articles on the Lummi Island Quarry Part 13: What’s Happened to the Lummi Island Quarry? — August 2014 Part 12: Lummi Island Quarry In Financial Collapse — August 2013 Part 11: Aggregates West Goes Into Receivership to Avoid Bankruptcy — May 2013 Part 10: Lummi Island Quarry Is “Out of Control” — April 2013 Part 9: Guess Who Almost Came to Town — December 2012 Part 8: Lummi Island Quarry: County Fines Owner for Shoreline Violations — September 2012 Part 7: Lummi Island Quarry Issued More Stop Work Orders — July 2012 Part 6: Barge Recovery Spills Oil at Lummi Island Quarry — May 2012 Part 5: Bumpy Road for Quarry Expansion — March 2012 Part 4: Lummi Island Quarry Is Illegally Diverting Water — February 2012 Part 3: Lummi Island: The Quarry is Served with Another Violation Notice — January 2012 Part 2: Do Citizens’ Concerns Matter? — December 2011 Part 1: Lummi Island Quarry Owners Propose “Environmentally Friendly” Expansion — October/ November 2011

inspections do not take place; enforcement is complaint driven. We took upon ourselves the job of monitoring the quarry site and providing detailed information and consistent follow-up. With the help of our legal advisors, we sent letters to county officials referencing specific aspects of law and interpretation regarding con-tested actions. We attempted these efforts with an air of cooperation in pursuit of what we were sure was the public good.

Over the next two years, 2011 through 2012, we helped alert various regulatory agencies to the following: 1. shoreline infrastructure was

expanded and built without permits;

2. violations of Ecology’s sand and gravel permit were on-going;

3. water was being withdrawn from local streams without a state water right;

4. the DNR aquatic lease had been violated;

5. operations were being conduct-ed outside permitted hours;

6. air quality violations were peri-odically occurring;

7. sunken barges were sitting il-legally on state bedlands; and

8. mining operations were con-tinuing outside allowable per-mit boundaries.

The Time is RightThe LI Conservancy’s goal was not to put the quarry operators out of business. Our intent was to assure that the owners obeyed the rules in the hope that on-going environ-mental damage could be stopped and impacts to neighboring resi-

dences might be reduced. As it turned out, the quarry owner was defaulting on bank loans and in trouble with creditors. This led to a court receivership in June 2013 and the property was put up for sale. The timing was right. Advice to be persistent and remain opti-mistic had paid off. Unexpected things can happen over time that may be in one’s favor.

The decision by the Lummi Island Heritage Trust to bid for purchase of the 105-acre property

was not easy. It was preceded by a detailed feasibility exploration conducted by a volunteer task force. Two years of intense and persistent negotiations with the receiver followed — ably led by LIHT Executive Director Rebecca Rettmer and Board President Janice Holmes. Local geologist Dan McShane was instrumental in highlighting the poor economic prospects of accessing the rock resource based on market condi-tions and permitting challenges

Pacific Arts Market Returns

to Sunset Square

Cooperative artists are proud to announce the 19th annual Pacific Arts Market returning to the same location in Bellingham’s Sunset Square, next to Jo-Ann Fabric.

The Market runs the first three weekends in December, Friday through Sunday each weekend, nDecember 4-6 nDecember 11-13 nDecember 18-20

from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

More than 40 artists and crafters are participating in this year’s Pacific Arts Mar-ket, displaying their creative, handcrafted wares. Shoppers will find unique jewelry, pot-tery, woodwork, textiles, fiber art, bath and body products, book and paper art, leather, 3-D art, clothing, accessories, holiday ornaments, paintings, photography, specialty foods and more, all while listening to music from local perform-ers.

Pacific Arts Market is a true cooperative, owned and operated by the artists them-selves. “What makes Pacific Arts unique is that it has a cozy community feel,” says Stephanie Cash of Polished Moon. “Shoppers can pur-chase a unique piece and they will know that their purchase is completely supporting local artists.”

When a second ranger finally ar-rived, he placed my hands in cuffs in front of me, relieving me tempo-rarily of some pain. Ellen placed a cup of water to my lips and helped me relax from the trauma. Shirley and Ellen did not witness the “take down,” but they stayed for support and followed the ranger’s vehicle when I was taken away.

Elizabeth wanted to send an email to Dahr Jamail, a noted journalist who earlier had written in Truthout (an independent news organization, go to www.truth-out.org) about the growler jet noise is-sues, so she left the park. Ellen and Shirley were told by the ranger that they might receive citations, but so far that has not happened.

Earlier when Shirley asked the first ranger why I was placed in the vehicle cuffed, the ranger em-phasized, “He’s going to jail!” I was taken to the Clallam County Jail in Port Angeles. Shirley and Ellen were told that I would be in jail overnight and would be brought to the Federal Court in Tacoma the next morning. When I was fi-nally fingerprinted that evening and brought to a cell, the jail employee expressed how puzzled he was that a 5’7” retired librarian would be charged with assault of a much younger, taller, beefier ranger. I later learned from a friend that the first ranger previously served in the U.S. Navy.

After I was driven to the Federal Courthouse in Tacoma on Aug. 13, I was placed in handcuffs and leg

chains and fingerprinted again. The employee who did this surprised me by commenting on my political affiliation, which he had searched online. I consider that intrusive, ir-relevant snooping. That morning I was brought to my court-appointed attorney and told my trial before a judge would be Oct. 19. I was released, and Shirley and Ellen, angels in disguise, brought me back to Bellingham. Since then I have consulted with my attorney and a local civil rights attorney.

My court-appointed attorney warned me that judges are more likely to believe a law officer’s testimony before they believe the accused. Knowing that, I decided to accept an arranged plea bargain – that I have a “petty offense” (less than misdemeanor) of “trespass” in Olympic National Park. I have sent a check for a modest fine and expect to have the charge expunged from my record. The Oct. 19 court appearance was therefore canceled.

Of great importance to me has been the support and encourage-ment I have received from loyal friends. They rightly have helped me understand that there are broad-er issues that still deserve to be ad-dressed. Although free speech issues and the militarization of rangers are important concerns, I remain focused on our primary reason for going to that national park: wanting to protect our environment. Our neighbors and wildlife will suffer from the Navy’s proposed electro-magnetic warfare training. Join us in opposing that plan.


for the highly regulated shoreline. Real estate development didn’t pencil out either. In the end, the receiver concluded that conserva-tion would be the best use of the property and accepted the Trust’s offer.

An exciting new chapter can now begin for Smugglers Cove; from fish fertilizer plant 100 years ago to rock quarry to restored nature preserve with 4,000 feet of significant shoreline and intact mature upland forest habitat on 105 preserved acres — forever.

We should note that public awareness would not have suc-ceeded if not for Whatcom Watch, which agreed to publish an article about the quarry in October/November 2011 when no other news outlet would. The article became the first of 13 penned by the Lummi Island Conservancy President (Meredith Moench) from 2011-2014. The in-depth ar-ticles alerted and educated citizens throughout Whatcom County regarding serious mining impacts to the marine environment at the site and the need for regulatory enforcement.

FACT: Olympic National Park is a World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve. As 95% wilderness, it is incredibly rich in biodiversity as well as beauty and quietness. While the Navy has claimed that there will be “no significant impact” from their plan, the United Nations has expressed grave concerns of the irreparable damage to the Park that would result from establishing an EW Range here. They have requested a formal investigation.

Why was the Olympic Peninsula chosen as the place to establish an Electronic Warfare Range?

FACT: Citizens were told by the Navy Commander in charge of the training of the pilots that the Olym-pic Peninsula was chosen because of “efficiency”. Currently the Navy is using an established Electronic Warfare Range in Mountain Home, Idaho. Public Affairs at Mountain Home reported that it takes only 20 minutes for a Growler to fly from the Navy’s Whidbey Island base to Mountain Home.

FACT: When asked what the Navy would do if they did not get a permit from the US Forest Service to use their roads, the Navy replied that they would just continue training as they have been, including using simulators.

These remarks from the Navy’s Commanding Officers reveal that an EW Range on the Olympic Penin-sula is not “critical” to the Navy’s mission. They can continue using the Range they currently use in Mountain Home Idaho. The Commander in charge of training the Navy’s pilots explained that they can practice EW training anywhere, the terrain does not matter. Listen yourself to the Navy’s Commanders’ responses at: http://vimeo.com/118631144, and http://vimeo.com/119469494.

WRITE A LETTER TO ROBERT BONNIE

Mr. Bonnie oversees the US Forest Service. Ask him to refuse the Navy permission to use Olympic National Forest for war practice. NOTE: Letters from children and young adults are especially

powerful.

Send your letter to:

Mr. Robert Bonnie 1400 Independence Ave. SWJamie L. Whitten Bldg. Suite 240 EWashington, DC [email protected] FAX: 202-720-0632

Send a copy of your letter to:

Mr. Bonnie's assistants,[email protected], [email protected], and to Ms. Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior (in charge of National Parks) [email protected]

Dear Mr. Bonnie,We like to visit Olymic National Park because of the outstanding natural beauty this area has to offer. Olympic National Park is one of our country’s few UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It war-rants special protection. Climate change has only worsened this already fragile environment and made the dangers of accidental forest fires a critical concern. If you were choosing a vacation destination, would you want to come to an electromagnetic warfare practice zone, which many studies have indicated is harmful to humans and wildlife? Would you want the peace and quiet you seek interrupted by the deafening thunder of Growler jets flying overhead continually? Please deny the Navy’s request for permission to use the Olympic National Forest for their equipment. S

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Time is of the essence! Thank you for sharing this alert with your family and friends, and all who

cherish our National Parks. Ask them to share it widely. To obtain additional copies, contact us

at [email protected].

SAVE THE OLYMPIC PENINSULAsavetheolympicpeninsula.org

SAVE OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARKThe People say NO

to a Navy plan

WHAT YOU CAN DO:1. Open Google on your computer and search for: youtube, The Olympic Peninsula is Not for Electromagnetic Warfare Training, to view a powerful video explaining the navy’s plan for a warfare range. 2. See citizens’ protest at http://vimeo.com/111189009.3. Write to Interior Department official (see details below).4. Share this information with everyone you know via email/social media.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:FACT: The US Navy plans to convert the Olympic Peninsula into a permanent “Electronic Warfare Range,”using airspace over Olympic National Park. They have requested to use National Forest lands that border the Park to place radar-emitting trucks. These trucks will be beaming electromagnetic signals to squadrons of Electronic Attack jets, which will be continually scanning the landscape with radar.

FACT: The Navy’s plans include very loud Growler jets, practicing in trios, conducting “tactical maneuvers” in the airspace directly above Olympic National Park, for 8-16 hours/day, 260 days/year, indefinitely. They will be flying as low as 1200 feet.

FACT: Growlers are the noisiest jets ever made, up to 113 decibels at 1000 ft. Exposure to that noise, even for a short duration, can permanently damage human hearing. Children’s ears are especially vulnerable.

FACT: No studies were done on the impacts this Range will have on:

- three million annual visitors to Olympic National Park - tourism economies of the small communities surrounding the Park - fire risk from crashing jets and misguided electromagnetic beams - toxic pollution from the jets’ emissions - jet noise impacts on the health of humans and wildlife, including endangered species - billions of bird migration interruptions - electromagnetic radiation exposure to humans and wildlife

A Threat to Our Neighbors’ Environment

For More Information on Navy jets and the Olympic Peninsula: Go to: West Coast Action Alliance: http://westcoastactionalliance.org/Go to: YouTube.com and search for “The Olympic Peninsula Is Not For Electromagnetic Warfare Training” to view a 10-minute video produced by Olympic Peninsula Watch.Further reading: “Navy Expands Domestic War Games, Despite Public Concern Over Alleged Illegalities,” by Dahr Jamail, www.Truth-out.org, Nov. 16, 2015.

Flyer activists handed out at the Olympia National Park.

Source: SAVE THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA www. Save the Olympic Peninsula.org



Stoney Bird worked for years as a corporate lawyer. More recently he has been organizing to overturn corporate rule.

by Stoney Bird

Part 17

This is the seventeenth in a con-tinuing series of articles that began with the January, 2014 issue of Whatcom Watch. The series addresses the impediments to democracy and well being in American society.

“While many mid-nineteenth-century Europeans had per-suaded themselves that the won-ders of modern industry were reserved to them because of such unchangeable factors as the local climate and geography, their superior religious beliefs and “culture,” or even their “racial” characteristics, the geographic shifts of the world’s first modern industry [cotton] showed anyone willing to see that essentializing the particular global geography of a particular moment in the history of capitalism was nothing but a self-serving justification for global inequality.”

— Harvard History Professor Sven Beckert1

The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement and entombment in mines of the aboriginal popu-lation, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins, signaled the rosy dawn of the era of capi-talist production. These idyllic proceedings are the chief mo-menta of primitive accumulation. — Karl Marx2

In the arc of American his-tory, racism, slavery and colonial war have played a fundamental role. In history as it actually was, slave-produced cotton and its subsequent processing by the industrially oppressed played a fundamental part. Not only did racism, slavery and colonial war enable the physical spread of the United States, but they were the foundations of wealth accumula-tion in this country — indeed of the worldwide capitalist system. The stories we have told ourselves up to now have been rather more forgiving.

When I was growing up in the 1950s and 60s, the stories that I heard in school, at home, and in the media were along the follow-ing lines: the Industrial Revolu-tion was all about technology. It produced and produced and pro-duced. The result was prosperity for all. The southern slave planta-tions were bad, yes, but they were a sideshow and “backward,” and in any event, the heroics of the Civil War got rid of them. The epic ex-pansion of the United States across

the North American continent was the inevitable reward for the good, wise, hard-working people of European descent with their genius for democracy. It was right for them to scour the continent of “savages.”

It’s time we actually looked in the mirror. We will be aided in our viewing by the work of many recent historians. It is not a pretty picture. Honor, compassion, jus-tice, and interest in the well being of society do not play a part.

“Blood Purity”It began with the Inquisition. As early as 1449, the Spanish had be-gun distinguishing between those who by descent were presumed to be “Old Christians” — and there-fore above suspicion — and those who had themselves converted or were descended from converts, and therefore suspect. An elabo-rate system of nomenclature was devised to mark off all the different variants of legitimacy.

In 1478, during the last decades of the Reconquista — the Chris-tian reconquest of the Iberian Pen-insula — one Alonso de Hojeda, a Dominican friar from Seville, convinced Queen Isabella of the existence of Crypto-Judaism, said to occur when former Jews (conversos) among her subjects claimed falsely to have converted to Christianity. He suggested – and she ordained — the creation of a tribunal to examine those sus-pected of “false conversion.” When the Reconquista was completed in 1492, both Jews and Muslims were required by law to convert or to leave the kingdom.3 The idea of “blood purity” has been a popular one in Europe and this country ever since.

The Pope Sanctions EmpireAt the same time that the Euro-peans were developing their con-cepts of “pure blood,” they were increasingly coming into contact with non-Europeans. The leaders in this were the Portuguese, as through one voyage after another they extended their reach down the coast of Africa and then on to Asia. Seeking legal sanction, they applied to Pope Nicholas V, and he duly obliged with the Bull Dum Diversas in 1452.

Dum Diversas was the first of a series of papal Bulls, the cu-mulative message of which was that Christian European explor-ers could seize land not already claimed by another Christian power, set up government, seize whatever wealth they might find (or trade for it), enslave the in-habitants, and convert them to Christianity by any feasible means. Their conversion was ostensibly to “save their souls,” but one may note that the new Christians would also be subject to the tithe. The year after Columbus’ first voyage the Pope extended the prin-ciple to the Western Hemisphere4

with an enlargement of the Span-ish kingdom’s share a year later through the Treaty of Tordesillas.5

Not to be outdone, in 1496 King Henry VII of England grant-ed a patent to John Cabot under which Cabot could take title to land that he came upon in North America if the land was not already claimed by another Christian (Eu-ropean) power. King Henry only required in return that Cabot pay him one-fifth of the value of what-ever Cabot brought back from his exploits. Cabot’s patent was the genesis of the British colonial claims in what are now termed the United States and Canada. Thus was a program of violence, land theft and enslavement made “law.”

Collectively these unilateral European decrees comprise the notorious “Doctrine of Discov-ery.”6 Chief Justice Marshall in-corporated the doctrine into the law of the United States in his M’Intosh opinion of 1823.7 The U.S. Supreme Court continues to cite it as a basis of decision, most recently in 2005.8 It is the legal basis of all current property claims in this hemisphere — and in much of the rest of the world.

War CapitalismHarvard history professor Sven Beckert has won the Bancroft Prize9 this year for his book on cotton as the basis of the capital-ist system.10 In Beckert’s view, the violence-based slave-and-ethnic-cleansing complex on which cot-ton production was based in the U.S. south had been anticipated through the operations of the colo-nizing chartered companies since the beginning of the seventeenth century. As I described in the July, 2015 issue of Whatcom Watch (see pages 6-7), beginning with the British East India Company in 1600, European governments granted charters to companies to engage in trading, governing and military operations. The compa-nies were the primary means by which North America (among other parts of the world) was colo-nized. Because the companies were granted powers of government and war, and because they were a major means of accumulating capital for those who held the charters, Beckert, not mincing words, describes the resulting system of exploitation as “war capitalism.” Those not possessing charters were forced to follow in the dust — or be ground into it — as Tom Paine acidly observed (see sidebar, “Tom Paine on Corporate Charters”).11 Another theme of Beckert’s is the collaborative role that government played with commercial interests

in setting up these corporations. At every step, government provided juristic cover backed up by the ultimate violence of the state in establishing the capitalist system.

Slavery and the ConstitutionThese days, slavery is thought to have been a phenomenon of the U.S. South and a sign of its “back-wardness” by contrast with the supposed dynamism of the North’s wage labor system. The north, we are often asked to believe, was the home of “freedom.” Yet in 1789, both northern and southern states ratified a Constitution that: n protected the trans-Atlantic slave

trade from tampering for the next 20 years.

nopened the way to the Fugitive Slave Act (northerners were often avid hunters of escaped slaves).

nauthorized the federal govern-ment to guarantee the states against domestic violence. (The southern states were specifically fearful of possible slave insur-rections, which had been occur-ring at various levels since the creation of the slave system. For example, in Virginia at the time of the adoption of the Constitu-tion, roughly half the population were slaves).

nguaranteed the southern states a majority in the House of Rep-resentatives and the Electoral College (for the explicit purpose of protecting the “peculiar insti-tution”). It did this by requiring slaves to be counted as three-fifths of a person for purposes of determining the size of a state’s congressional delegation, though not of course treating them as persons for any other purpose.12

The framers of the Constitution had protected a resource (slavery) that they then proceeded to exploit big time.

King Slave CottonDuring the first half of the nine-teenth century, cotton became the most important commodity in world trade. It was the explosion in slave-produced raw cotton in the American South that enabled the foundation of the industrial factory system in England, New England and, later, continental Europe. Between 1800 and 1860, the U. S. raised cotton production from a few million pounds per year to more than two billion pounds, raising production a thousand-fold in 60 years.13 From less than one percent of the world’s cotton at

Racism, Slavery and War The Foundations of Capitalism

Tom Paine on Corporate Charters“It is a perversion of terms to say that a charter gives rights. It oper-ates by a contrary effect — that of taking rights away. Rights are inherently in all the inhabitants; but charters, by annulling those rights, in the majority, leave the right, by exclusion, in the hands of a few.”


Conservation Land Purchase

to Enhance Access at Popular

Mailbox Peak Trailhead

Land to stay in natural, scenic

condition

The purchase of 82 acres of timberland neighboring the Middle Fork of the Snoqualm-ie River will ensure more room to roam in the popular Mailbox Peak trailhead area.

The land, which had been owned and harvested by local timber companies for more than 100 years, was headed toward development. Now, it will be added to the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Natural Resource Conservation Area (NRCA) owned by the state of Washington and managed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

“We are delighted to add this property to the conserva-tion area,” said Brock Milliern, statewide recreation manager for DNR. “It’s a natural gate-way to some of Washington state’s most beautiful trails. We needed to improve the access points and amenities to serve the growing number of recreation users – now we have room to do this.”

The Trust for Public Land negotiated and managed the purchase, which was funded with help from King County, as well as DNR. King County will hold a conservation ease-ment on the property that en-sures the land will be retained forever in a natural, open space and scenic condition.

“We are proud of our part-nership role in this acqui-sition, which will preserve this precious habitat for fu-ture generations,” said Kevin Brown, King County Parks Director. It’s a sentiment shared by others.

“We helped to establish the Mountains to Sound Gre-enway more than 25 years ago,” said Paul Kundtz, state director of The Trust for Pub-lic Land. “It’s enormously rewarding to conserve this beautiful land in the face of the explosive housing growth around North Bend.”

“The Middle Fork Sno-qualmie is one of the most popular recreation areas in the Mountains to Sound Greenway,” said Jon Hoeks-tra, executive director of the Mountains to Sound Gre-enway Trust. “It’s an easy drive from Seattle, and only


the beginning of the period, the American South was producing 75 percent of world production in the 1850s.14 Nearly all of it would go to the newly-established factories in England’s Lancashire.

At the beginning of the cen-tury, the bulk of the cotton was produced on the eastern seaboard, primarily in South Carolina. See-ing what could be gained, Andrew Jackson and others proceeded to cleanse what became Mississippi and Alabama of its indigenous population. They applied the read-ily available Doctrine of Discovery to parcel up the newly-vacated millions of acres, and created a slave camp owner class who were the wealthiest individuals in the land. British and northern U.S. banking interests were fi nancing the purchase of land, equipment, and slaves — the linchpin of the system.15 The fi nanciers of course had the go-ahead from their re-spective governments.

The trans-Atlantic slave trade had been banned in 1807, al-though it continued to bring in contraband slaves at a much lower rate. What supplied the new terri-tories was the internal slave trade. Slave labor camp owners in Mary-land, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, having farmed out their own land, could sell unneeded slaves at a premium to the owners of the new slave labor camps in what was then the South-west. Those who organized the internal trade in slaves took their seats at the tables of the wealthy, just like the slave labor camp own-ers. During the period of stunning growth, the slave population grew from 700,000 to 4 million, largely from natural increase rather than imports, a factor of about four.

Northerners helped to fi nance this explosion, to conduct the trade in slaves, to provide insur-ance, and to ship the cotton. They also began setting up mills to spin, weave and sew the raw cotton that the slaves produced. As in England, the “mills” in towns like Waltham, Lawrence, and Lowell, Massachusetts were the fi rst big industrial establishments in this country, and founded the capitalist fortunes on which much of New England banking, railroads and in-surance were based, and which also led to endowments for hospitals and universities, including Har-vard and Williams.16 One reviewer of the book “Complicity, How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profi ted from Slavery”17 says: “The slave-based profi ts made by the South’s Lords of the Lash were matched in New England by those of the Lords of the Loom ….”18

Whipping Slaves into “Effi ciency”At the root of the system were the slaves. Until the invention of the cotton gin in 1793, a major bottleneck in cotton production was the removal of seeds from the bolls, held fi rmly in place by the seeds’ stickiness. When the gin made that part of the process 50 times as fast, the new bottleneck was simply picking the cotton. This was not mechanized until the 1940s. Meantime, cotton-picking

could be made more effi cient by making the slaves work faster. By the beginning of the Civil War, slaves were picking, on average, four times as much cotton per day as they were at the beginning of the century.19

Here’s how they did it. The process was openly described in journals of the day as the “push-ing system.”20 Since picking the cotton was the bottleneck, men, women and children all had to

Resources n Alexander, Michelle, “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in

the Era of Colorblindness,” Rev. ed., 2012. n Baptist, Edward, “The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the

Making of America Capitalism,” Basic Books, 2014. n Beckert, Sven, “Empire of Cotton: A Global History,” Alfred A.

Knopf, New York, 2015. Winner of the Bancroft Prize. n Blackmon, Douglas, “Slavery By Another Name: The Re-Enslave-

ment of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II,” Anchor Books, 2009.

n Farrow, Anne, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank, “Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged and Profi ted from Slavery,” Ballantine Books, 2005.

n Paine, Tom, “The Rights of Man,” http://sqapo.com/complete_text__paine__rights_of_man.htm, viewed 6-30-15.

End Notes 1 Beckert, in Resources, p.382. 2 Marx, Karl, Capital, vol. 1, Ch. 31, https://www.marxists.org/

archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch31.htm, viewed 6-28-15. Both Beckert and Marx are correct in describing the violent and ex-ploitative basis of capitalism. Marx, like many others, is distracted into focusing on a hard, “masculine” industry (mining) when cotton growing, spinning, weaving, and sewing (at all stages of which the workers were at least as often women and children) enabled the factory system and created the fi rst great industrial fortunes.

3 One may remark the similarity between the paranoia of the Spanish authorities at this time and the hyperfear of Communism and then of terrorism in our own time.

4 The Bull Inter Caetera, see, e.g /, viewed 6-29-15. 5 Treaty of Tordesillas, http://doctrineofdiscovery.org 6 See, e.g., doctrineofdiscovery.org, viewed May 27, 2015. 7 Johnson v M’Intosh, 21 U.S. 543, 1823. 8 City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of NY, 544 U.S. 197, 2005. 9 “The Bancroft Prize is awarded annually by the trustees of

Columbia University. Winners are judged in terms of the scope, signifi cance, depth of research, and richness of interpretation they present in the areas of American history and diplomacy.” - http://library.columbia.edu/news/libraries/2015/2015-03-25_Win-ners_of_the_2015_Bancroft.html

10 See Beckert in Resources. 11 See Paine in Resources. 12 The 13th Amendment of the Constitution abolished slavery and

indentured servitude “except as a punishment for crime,” thus enabling the system of convict labor which to this day provides employers with a satisfactorily low cost alternative for slavery.

13 Beckert, see Resources, p. 106. 14 Baptist, see Resources, p. 114. 15 Beckert, see Resources p. 106. 16 Farrow et al, see Resources, p. 35. 17 Farrow et al, see Resources. 18 http://usslave.blogspot.ca/2014/05/complicity-how-north-profi t-

ed-from.html19 Baptist, see Resources, p. 127.20 Baptist, see Resources, p. 117 et seq.21 See Blackmon, in Resources.

participate. Each slave was given a daily picking quota, a certain number of pounds. At the end of the day, what each slave had picked was weighed, and if the slave hadn’t picked the quota, he or she was immediately given a lash of the whip for each pound below what the overseer had as-signed. Once a slave was picking the assigned quota with regularity, the overseer would raise the ante. Modern industrial employers are

not the fi rst ones who thought of the “speed up.”

Civil War: The End of the IdyllWhen the U.S. Civil War started, the South at fi rst imposed an em-bargo on shipments to England, hoping thereby to force England to recognize the South as an in-dependent country. This gambit having failed, the North imposed its own blockade for the dura-tion of the war. For all that the blockade was not water tight, it successfully upended the general system, and forced the British to scout around the world for other places where cotton growing could be stimulated. During the war, the immediate sources were Egypt, India, and Brazil.

In the U.S. cotton production didn’t recover to pre-war levels until the 1890s. Whip-motivated cotton-picking had been abolished with the adoption of the 13th Amendment. Relatively few freed slaves, however, became indepen-dent land owners, or if they did, quickly were relegated by the costs of fi nancing their operations to the role of tenant farmers or share-croppers. The lowest paid became wage-earning farm workers.

Lower still were the members of a newly-created class: convict laborers. Wall Street Journal re-porter Douglas Blackmon tells this part of the story in his book tellingly entitled, “Slavery by Another Name.”21 As part of the Jim Crow system, southern law-makers invented new and vaguely described crimes such as vagrancy. A potential employer would let the local sheriff know when the busi-ness needed more workers, and the sheriff would arrest as many people as the employer required. Once an unfortunate was ensnared in the legal system, costs and fees would mount up. If the defendant lacked funds, the charges would have to be paid off in additional jail time. An ostensible 30-day sentence would turn into months. Local farmers, factory-owners and mine-owners could then rent out the convicts, keeping them in living conditions and under a work regime that could barely be distinguished from the worst of the old slave days, in-cluding “discipline” by whipping. This system persisted in parts of the South through the 1930s.

The New Jim Crow

The United States has been through two periods of fundamen-tal legal change in race relations, once with the abolition of slavery in the 1860s, and once with the Civil Rights and Voting Rights leg-islation of the 1960s. Though the law changed, people’s views and practices did not. After abolition came Jim Crow. After the Civil Rights movement came the War on Drugs. There is not space to go into detail here, but most readers of this journal will know of the dis-criminatory fashion in which the drug laws are applied. The system of prison labor for “respectable” employers is also alive and well. Again, we will have to explore that issue in a future column.

CO OPFOOD

minutes from North Bend’s restaurants and shops. These parcels sit right at the entry of this amazing wild valley and it is a real win to see them remain as a forested gateway for generations to come.”

DNR, King County, Gre-enway Trust and The Trust for Public Land are exploring options for the property, pos-sibly by restoring roads and access points remaining from timber harvesting as the basis for establishing ADA-friendly trails. This purchase also en-ables DNR to provide better access and amenities for those coming to hike Mailbox Peak.

DNR-managed conserva-tion lands DNR manages 56 natural area preserves and 36 natural resources conserva-tion areas on nearly 157,000 acres statewide. Natural area preserves protect high-quality examples of native ecosystems and rare plant and animal species. They are also genetic reserves for Washington’s na-tive species and reference sites for comparing natural and altered environments. Natural resources conserva-tion areas protect lands that have high conservation values for ecological systems, scenic qualities, wildlife habitat and low-impact recreational op-portunities. These sites also host environmental educa-tion and approved research projects.

The Trust for Public Land creates parks and protects land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for gen-erations to come. Nearly ten million people live within a one-half mile walk of a Trust for Public Land park, garden, or natural area, and millions more visit these sites every year. To support The Trust for Public Land and share why nature matters to you, visit www.tpl.org.

The Mountains to Sound Greenway is the 1.5 million-acre landscape connecting Puget Sound and central Washington. The Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust leads and inspires action to conserve and enhance the Greenway, ensuring a long-term balance between people and nature. Founded in 1991, the Greenway Trust works to promote public land acquisi-tions, connect a continuous regional trail system, teach people of all ages about forests and wildlife, and mobilize thousands of volunteers to care for the landscape.

The Greenway Trust is lead-ing a bipartisan campaign to have the U.S. Congress desig-nate the Mountains to Sound Greenway as a National Heri-tage Area. Learn more at www.GreenwayHeritage.org.

Continued from previous page



City Hall210 Lottie StreetBellingham, WA 98225http://www.cob.org

MayorKelli Linville(360) 778-8100 (phone)[email protected] Expires: Dec. 2015

City Council(360) 778-8200 (phone)(360) 778-8108 (fax)[email protected]

At-LargeMayor Pro-Tempore Roxanne Murphy3,5,6

(360) [email protected] Expires: Dec. 2016

Ward 1Jack Weiss2,3,4

(360) 738-2103 (home)[email protected] Expires: Dec. 2015

Ward 2Council President Gene Knutson(360) 734-4686 (home)(360) 733-1640 (business)[email protected] Expires: Dec. 2017

Ward 3Dan Hammill1,2,4


Ward 4Council President Pro-TemPinky Vargas1,2,6


Ward 5Terry Bornemann3,4,5


Ward 6Michael Lilliquist1,5,6

(360) [email protected] Expires: Dec. 2017

Committees1. Finance and Personnel2. Lake Whatcom Reservoir and Natural Resources3. Parks and Recreation4. Planning

5. Public Works/Public Safety6. Community and Economic Development

Upcoming MeetingsDec. 7 and 14; 7 p.m.Jan. 4, 11 and 28; 7 p.m.Feb. 8 and 22; 7 p.m.Mar. 7 and 21; 7 p.m.Apr. 4 and 18; 7 p.m.

Bellingham City CouncilCompiled by Boris Schleinkofer

Action Taken at September 28, 2015 Meeting

Shall the council:178. Grant a noise variance to the state of Washington for Interstate 5 paving and guardrail work? Construction work in residentially zoned areas between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. requires a noise variance. The work will take 11 nights to complete and will include milling and filling of asphalt pavement, erosion control, traffic control, pavement marking near Iowa Street, and installing guardrail at the Lakeway Drive northbound on-ramp. The work is to occur between June and September 2016. The contractor will be required to implement nighttime noise mitigation, which has been successful in past projects in our area. (AB20978) Approved 7-0

179. Approve the Economic Development Strategic Ac-tion Plan? The state Growth Management Act requires that local comprehensive plans include an Economic Development chapter. At the 6/17/2013 meeting, vote #128, the council voted to add a chapter on Economic Development to the Bellingham Comprehensive Plan. The Strategic Action Plan encompasses a broad spectrum of plans and suggestions to improve the city’s businesses and infrastructure, including construction of connective throughways between districts and avail-able land, construction of stormwater treatment facilities and urban villages, and construction of recreational and transportation facilities. (AB20966) Approved 7-0

180. Amend the Bellingham Municipal Code to address drivers for transportation network companies? Com-mercial transportation services use online-enabled digital platforms to connect passengers with drivers using their personal vehicles; Uber has applied to operate in Bellingham. A motion to include a 10-year background check requirement failed. Requirements for transportation network companies will include city business registration, license regis-tration, background checks, vehicle inspection, insurance, submission to audits and the establishment of punishments for violations. (AB20981) Approved 5-2, Jack Weiss and Michael Lilliquist opposed.

181. Add to the 2016 legislative agenda the long-term restoration from rail accidents and support for Governor Jay Inslee’s Climate Action Plan? The city, in partnership with the Port of Bellingham and Whatcom County, adopts a state legisla-tive agenda each year. The joint legislative agenda outlines and defines the shared objectives of the three entities and their commitment to work cooperatively with the Legislature, to strengthen the partnership between state and local governments, and to ensure the resources to implement the policies and goals as adopted by the state of Washington. (AB20992) Approved 7-0

182. Authorize the mayor to award low bids totaling $77,921 for water distribution accessories? The components are gate valves, tapping valves, check valves and tap sleeves that are used on water main connections and maintenance projects. The components were divided into five groups; bids were separate for each group. HD Fowler of Bellingham was the lowest bidder for Groups A, B and C for a total of $62,810. HD Supply Waterworks of Bellingham was the lowest bidder for Group D at $9,987. Ferguson Waterworks of Burlington was the lowest bidder for Group E at $5,124. (AB20986) Approved 7-0

183. Authorize the mayor to accept a $500,000 state grant to be used for installing LED street lights? See vote #188 for details on the installation of 3,600 LED street lights. The energy efficiency grant from the state of Washington required the City Council to review the document and authorize the mayor to sign the agreement. (AB20988) Approved 7-0

184. Appropriate $2,957,622 for payroll checks issued from August 26 through September 10, 2015? (AB20989) Approved 7-0

185. Appropriate $4,327,754 for goods and services checks issued from September 4 through September 17, 2015? (AB20990/20991) Approved 7-0

186. Extend the Public-Access, Educational and Govern-ment designation of BTV channel 10 through 2016? At the 7/21/2014 meeting, vote #152, BTV10 was designated as a “PEG” Public Access Education and Government channel for a 12-month pe-riod. The designation began on 10/5/2014, when the first public access program (averaging six hours per week) was aired, so the designation will expire on 10/4/2015. The television production training program will

conclude on 3/31/2016. The PEG designation will be extended through through 12/31/2016 to allow for public participation in developing and submitting content. AB20982 (Resolution 2015-17) Approved 7-0

187. Appropriate $4 million for LED street-lights? Approxi-mately 3,600 street lights will be replaced with energy efficient LED-fixtures. The city has contracted with the state of Washington to hire a prequalified company to perform the work. Benefits of LED technol-ogy include lower fixture costs, longer warranties, improved nighttime visibility and energy savings. The city received a $500,000 state grant (see vote #184), and $3,500,000 will come from an inter-governmental loan, to be paid back over a twelve year period. It is anticipated that annual payments of approximately $400,000 will be paid from future energy savings and reduced repair and maintenance costs. AB20963 (Ordinance 2015-09-037) Approved 7-0

188. Authorize an interfund loan of $1,350,000 from the solid waste fund to the watershed fund? There is a $5 mil-lion line of credit in the watershed fund that has been used to make a land acquisition purchase. The cost of maintaining the line of credit is approximately $28,000 per year depending upon interest rates. This one year interfund loan and reserves of $1,350,000 will be used to pay off the existing line of credit and save the watershed fund approximately $22,000 per year in interest and fees at today’s rates. AB20964 (Ordi-nance 2015-09-038) Approved 7-0

189. Issue $4,200,000 in bonds to refund the outstand-ing 2006 water and sewer bonds? This bond will be issued with the same amortization period as the original 2006 bonds and is expected to save approximately $300,000 over the remaining life of the bonds. The finance director will negotiate the final terms of the bond with the purchaser, whose proposal has been determined to be in the best interest of the city, by June 2016. The city further reserves the right to reject all bids, at its sole discretion. AB20965 (Ordinance 2015-09-039) Approved 7-0

190. Amend interim zoning regulations for businesses found to be within areas zoned for the production, pro-cessing and retailing of recreational marijuana zones? (Public hearing held) A special circumstance arose with one applicant who no longer met the 1,000’ buffer requirement after a new arcade opened within the boundary limit. The amendment accounts for the situational repositioning of boundary limits to within 100’ of restricted locations that are not schools, in special circumstances when permits have previously been filed and approved. The emergency ordinance was first passed at the 7/1/2013 meeting, vote #142, extended at the 8/12/2013 meeting, vote #176, 8/4/2014 meeting, vote #161, 2/9/2015 meeting, vote #34. and 8/10/2015 meeting, vote #161. This proposed renewal makes no changes to the previously adopted interim rules and will continue to allow individuals to apply for licenses as authorized by I-502. Emergency ordinances must be renewed every six months. AB20977 (Emergency Ordinance 2015-09-040) Approved 7-0



Bellingham City Council Action Taken at October 12, 2015 Meeting

Shall the council:191. Authorize the legal department to file a civil nui-sance abatement action with respect to property locat-ed at 2626 Iron Street? Neighbors are unhappy with unpermitted construction and detritus accumulated on the property. (Discussed in Executive Session) Approved 7-0

192. Authorize the mayor to award the only bid of $163,050 to Tiger Construction of Everson for accessibility reno-vations to City Hall? Renovations are required by March 2016 to correct deficiencies identified in a federal government survey. The work includes installation of handrails for the exterior ADA ramp at the northwest entrance, elevator call button height adjustments, two drinking fountain accessibility requirements, handrail upgrades in the Council Chambers, handrails in the east and west stairwells, and replac-ing non-compliant door hardware on accessible routes. The engineer’s estimate was $110,998. (AB20999) Approved 7-0

1943. Authorize the mayor to award the only bid of $61,434 to Ferguson Water Works of Burlington for water dis-tribution accessories? The components are ductile iron fittings, couplings, pipe restraints and grip rings that are used on water main connections and maintenance projects. The components were divided into 11 groups. Ferguson Water Works was the only bidder for all 11 groups. (AB21004) Approved 7-0

194. Authorize the mayor to sign an agreement with the state of Washington for the Washington Conservation Corps? The agreement allows the city to sponsor two crews from 10/5/2015 to 9/18/2016. The total cost is $292,000, with the city providing $97,000 and the state $195,000. Crews will perform riparian restoration work throughout the city of Bellingham and the Lake Whatcom watershed, and will include invasive control, native species installation and fence work. (AB21005) Approved 7-0

195. Appropriate $2,838,533 for payroll checks issued from September 11 through September 25, 2015? (AB21006) Approved 7-0

196. Appropriate $7,323,137 for goods and services checks issued from September 18 through October 1, 2015? (AB21007/21008) Approved 7-0

197. Declare property at 301 and 315 N. Samish Way surplus for the purpose of redevelopment? (Public hearing held) At the 10/27/2014 meeting, vote #220, the council declared the Aloha Motel on the property a neighborhood blight and at the same meeting (#223) voted to obtain the property by eminent domain. At the 7/27/2015 meeting, vote 141, the council voted to acquired the prop-erty for $1,588,512. AB20995 (Resolution 2015-18). Approved 7-0

198. Declare property at 315 W. Holly Street surplus and solicit proposals for redevelopment? (Public hearing held) The property (known as the “Army Street Property”), which includes the adjacent portion of two parcels, was acquired at the 10/22/2012 meeting ,vote #198, as part of an exchange with the Port of Bellingham for property in The Waterfront District. AB20996 (Resolution 2015-19) Approved 7-0

199. Oppose Proposition 1, 2 and 3 that will appear on the general election ballot? (Public hearing held at a special meeting on 10/5/2015.) The Whatcom County ballot measures under consideration include Proposition 1 (restriction of County Council elections to include only voters from the district in which the candidate was nominated), Proposition 2 (preventing amendments to the Charter approved by a 2/3 majority of the voters except by a unanimous County Council vote), Proposition 3 (preventing changes made to Prop 1 except by a unanimous vote). AB20993 (Resolution 2015-20) Approved 7-0

200. Support Proposition 9 that will appear on the gen-eral election ballot? (Public hearing held at a special meeting on 10/5/2015.) If passed, Proposition 9 would change Whatcom County from three County Council districts and one at-large position to five County Council districts and two at-large positions. AB20993 (Resolu-tion 2015-21) Approved 4-3, Michael Lilliquist, Terry Bornemann and Gene Knutson opposed.

201. Amend the Bellingham Municipal Code to address drivers for transportation network companies? Commercial transportation services use online-enabled digital platforms to connect passengers with drivers using their personal vehicles; Uber has applied to operate in Bellingham. A motion to include a 10-year background check requirement failed. Requirements for transportation network companies will include city business registration, license registration, background checks, vehicle inspection, insurance, submission to audits and the establishment of punishments for violations. AB20981 (Or-dinance 2015-10-041) Approved 5-2, Michael Lilliquist, and Jack Weiss opposed.

202. Authorize the receipt and spending of a federal grant for $8,640? The grant is from the United States Department of Homeland Security/2014 Operation Stonegarden and will be used to fund overtime costs for the police department’s hazardous device (explosives) unit to train other local law enforcement agencies in What-com County. The Bellingham Police Department has been a recipient

Action Taken at October 26, 2015 Meeting

Shall the council:203. Authorize the purchase of an access road easement from Richard and Debra Berglund/Waterfront Alley/Tril-lium Corporation for $117,387? The easement will provide the city with access from Central Avenue to the Army Street right-of-way for the purpose of accessing public utilities located there, and for the additional purpose of accessing city-owned property located adjacent to the Army Street right-of-way. (Discussed in Executive Session) Ap-proved 7-0

204. Authorize an environmental site assessment of the Stonecrest stormwater facility? The owner, Alliance Properties 2000, has offered to donate this facility to the city located on Iron Gate Road. Acceptance of this donation would ensure the proper mainte-nance of the facility, and would be consistent with public ownership of stormwater facilities throughout the city. Closing costs are estimated not to exceed $4,000. Regular, ongoing maintenance costs are estimated at $3,000-$4,000 annually. (AB21012) Approved 7-0

205. Approve the mayor’s reappointment of Ted Rosen to the Greenway Advisory Committee? The Greenway com-mittee provides citizen recommendations to the City Council and the Parks and Recreation Department about Greenway levy expenditures, parkland acquisitions and parks/trails/open space development proj-ects. Mr. Rosen is a part-time writer ho was initially appointed at the 11/18/2012 meeting, vote #217; this will be his final term which expires on 11/19/2018. (AB21021) Approved 7-0

206. Authorize the mayor to sign an agreement to upgrade the Integrated Library System? The agreement is between the Whatcom County Library System and the Bellingham Public Library. The integrated system was established in 2005; it manages most func-tions of library services including acquisitions, cataloging, serials, patron information and check-in/out. The SirsiDynix company of Lehi, UT, will take over the hosting systems and operations. Maintenance cost will be divides proportionally, the city with 40 percent and the county 60 percent. (AB21022) Approved 7-0

207. Appropriate $2,898,067 for payroll checks issued September 26 through October 9, 2015? (AB21023) Ap-proved 7-0

Continued on page 15

Whatcom Food

Network News

There will be a small WFN policy discussion on Wed., Dec. 2 at 1 pm at the What-com County Health Depart-ment conference room, at 1500 N. State St. The meeting will continue the discussion of establishing a food policy council and look at a recom-mendation for policy language for the Whatcom County comprehensive plan. If you have questions about the meeting, contact Chris Elder at [email protected] or Holly O’Neil at [email protected].

Winter Gathering

Luau

Northwest Hawaiì ̀ Ohana will hold its Winter Gather-ing Luau on Sun., Dec. 6, from 4 pm to 8:30 pm at the American Legion Hall Post #7, 1688 W. Bakerview Rd. Bellingham. Come spend an evening with the Ohana and share the Aloha Spirit in Whatcom County. Karaoke and dancing are scheduled to follow performances by Carlton Aranda, Halau Hula ‘O Lono, and NWHO Ha-waiian Dance Company and students from Fall Hula classes (Hoìke). Don’t wait to get your tickets because seats are limited. Contact Kalea: (360) 853-6684; Brenda (360) 319-3601 or Josephine (360) 820-8074, or purchase tickets through www.BrownPaperTickets.com.

Also, Northwest Hawai’i Òhana has volunteer posi-tions available for anyone and everyone who has the interest, dedication, and time to help out an organization whose mission is “to pre-serve, honor and perpetuate the unique blend of cultures found throughout the Hawai-ian Islands.” For more in-formation, send an email to: [email protected]

Join us on Twitter@editorwwatch


Port of BellinghamOffi ce Address:1801 Roeder AvenueBellingham, WA 98225(360) 676-2500 (phone)(360) 671-6411 (fax)[email protected]

Mailing Address:P.O. Box 1677Bellingham, WA 98227

Executive DirectorRob Fix(360) 676-2500email: robf@ portofbellingham.com

District 1Vice PresidentDan Robbins(360) 676-2500email: [email protected] Expires: Jan. 2018

District 2PresidentMichael McAuley(360) 201-7199email: [email protected] Expires: Jan. 2018

District 3SecretaryJim Jorgensen(360) 332-6724email: [email protected] Expires: Jan. 2016

Upcoming MeetingsHarbor Center Conference Room1801 Roeder AvenueFirst and third TuesdayDec. 1 and 15; 3 p.m.

Compiled by Andrew S. McBride

Port of Bellingham Commission



Shall the commission:126. Authorize the modifi cation of a lease agreement with Comcast Cable Communications for the licensing of port-owned conduit? In August 2000, the Port of Bellingham and Comcast Cable entered into a 50-year conduit license agreement covering Squalicum Harbor and Squalicum Peninsula for the purpose of providing communications services to port tenants. Comcast wishes to expand its conduit access to include all port conduit. Comcast will pay $33,750 for this additional access. (5473/Consent Agenda D) Approved 3-0

127. Authorize the executive director to renew the port’s liability and auto insurance coverage? The premium will be $161,592 from 10/1/2015 through 9/30/2016. Alliant Insurance Services of Newport Beach, California, will continue to serve as the broker of record. The premium is 2.0 percent higher than last year with most of the increase in auto liability insurance; the premiums for 2014-2015 were $158,422. The port’s property and crime insurance coverage was approved at the 7/7/2015 meeting, vote #86. (5461/Action Item 1) Approved 3-0

128. Authorize the executive director to sign a lease modifi cation with Bitter End Boatworks and a transfer agreement for surplus port property located at 1000 Hilton Avenue? Bitter End operates Hilton Harbor Marina, a land-based storage facil-ity, and offers additional marine services. The modifi cation of lease provides for expansion of the leasehold by 21,000 square feet to relieve congestion in the existing facility and to allow for increased boat stor-age. Beginning on 1/1/2016, rent for the additional area will be $827 per month bringing the total rent to $6,261 per month. (5462/Action Item 2) Approved 3-0

129. Authorize the executive director to sign with Teal Jones Lumber Services of Surrey, B.C., a lease renewal and modifi cation of property purchase? At the 8/3/2004 meeting, vote #87, the commission approved an initial lease with Teal Jones for fi ve acres at the Sumas International Cargo Terminal. The lease expired 7/31/2014 and is on a month-to-month status. Teal Jones has had diffi culty in making its lease payments. As an incentive to renew the lease, port staff and Teal Jones have negotiated a fi ve-year renewal and modifi cation that allows Teal Jones to pay the outstanding balance of $35,200 by 11/30/2015. The nominal rent to the port over the fi ve-year renewal period will be $861,168. (5463/Action Item 3) Approved 3-0

130. Authorize the executive director to award the low bid of $603,676 to Razz Construction of Bellingham for the Squalicum and Fairhaven boat launch repair projects? The Squalicum Harbor boat launch ramp extension is a continuation of a project to replace and repair the boat launch. The previous effort could not be completed due to unforeseen changed conditions. The Fairhaven boat launch replacement and repair project replaces existing timber-framed seasonal boat launch fl oats with new aluminum-framed fl oats, replaces one piling, and performs minor repairs on the concrete ramp and asphalt approach. The Fairhaven boat launch budget is increased from $261,230 to $566,339. A contingency fee of $30,184 will bring the total contract to $633,860. (5475/Action Item 4) Approved 3-0

131. Authorize the executive director to sign a $23,448 contract (amendment #2) with Reid Middleton, Inc. of Everett to perform construction support services for the Fairhaven boat launch fl oats and piling replacement project? The project has a budget of $305,109 and is partially funded by the Washing-ton State Recreation and Conservation Offi ce boating facilities program. This is the third and fi nal phase of this project. This amendment brings the total contract to $76,398. (5464/Action Item 5) Approved 3-0

132. Authorize the executive director to sign a contract for $13,470 (amendment #1) with KPFF Consulting En-gineers of Seattle to perform construction support services for the Squalicum Harbor boat launch ramp extension project? Scope of work is to perform construction sup-port services for the completion of the ramp extension at the Squalicum boat launch. The project has a budget of $212,177 and is partially funded by the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Offi ce boating facilities program. This is the second and fi nal phase of this project. This amendment brings the total contract to $33,100. (5465/ Action Item 6) Approved 3-0

133. Authorize the executive director to award the low bid of $64,059 to Torgerson Forest Products of Beaverton, Oregon for treated timber pilings? Most of the pilings will be used for the Bellingham Shipping Terminal repair project but three will be used to repair damages to Berth #2 caused by the 12/9/2014 Horizon Fairbanks incident. The total budget for pier repairs is $684,500. The material was advertised and two bids were received. (5466/Action Item 7) Approved 3-0

134. Authorize the executive director to sign a statutory war-ranty deed for the Army Street properties to the City of Bellingham? At the 10/16/2012 meeting, vote #159, the commission authorized the interim executive director to sign an agreement with the city of Bellingham to exchange waterfront property. The agreement con-cerned exchanges of property, as well as responsibilities and obligations, without money changing hands. The Army Street properties comprise three unattached pieces of property. The city exercised its option on the Army Street properties. An expense of $500 plus tax for an amended title policy is anticipated. (5467/Action Item 8) Approved 3-0


Shall the commission:135. Renew a lease with Reisner Distributor of Lynden for property located at Squalicum Harbor? A bulk fuel terminal has operated at the site since the 1930s. Tenants at the site have included Shell Oil (1935 to 1969) and Northwest Fuel Company (1969 to 2004). At the 3/7/2006 meeting, vote #38, the the commis-sion approved a fi ve-year lease for the 1.23 acres located at 2800 Roeder Avenue as a site for wholesale fuel sales and to distribute lubricant. The lease was retroactive to 9/1/2005 with an option to renew in fi ve-year increments. The lease was renewed and modifi ed in March 2012; this modifi cation returned a contaminated portion of the leasehold to the port. Rent for year two through fi ve will increase 2 percent annually. Nominal rent to the port for the fi ve-year period will be $188,206. (5507/Consent Agenda B) Approved 3-0

136. Approve a $21,779 contract with Faber Construc-tion of Lynden for emergency repairs of a sewer line break in the Fairhaven Marine Industrial Park? On 9/30/2015, the city of Bellingham reported that its contractor had damaged an unmarked port-owned sewer force line near the intersection of Harris and 8th avenues. On 10/6/2015, an active sewage leak was reported in the vicinity, possibly associated with this sewer force line. After consulting with the city, the executive director determined that the sewer line break constituted an emergency, therefore allowing the port to execute contracts in response. Port staff is in negotiation with Puget Sound Energy to recover costs associated with its portion of the broken line. The contract includes $2,178 contingency fee for a total authorized amount of $23,957. (5503/Action Item 1) Approved 3-0

137. Authorize the executive director to sign a $44,017 contract (amendment #10) with BergerABAM of Federal Way for the Harris Avenue pier replacement project? The original contract for $164,590 was approved at the 5/3/2011 meeting, vote #77. Final elements of permitting for this project consist of shoreline modeling; development of an historic mitigation plan for the Carpenter Building. Shoreline modeling will be used to analyze stability of beach gravels placed during cleanup. Relocation of the Carpenter Building has been determined to be prohibitive as well as not feasible. Scope of work includes preparation of a relocation feasibility report and an historic mitigation plan. This amendment brings the total contract to $1,177,167. (5504/Action Item 2) Approved 3-0

138. Modify the Point Roberts Press lease on property

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Port of Bellingham

Twenty Years AgoTo celebrate the 24th year of publishing Whatcom Watch, we will be printing excerpts from 20 years ago. David M. Laws has been generous enough to volunteer to review the Whatcom Watch for 20 years ago to find suitable material to reprint. The below excerpts are from the October 1995 issue of Whatcom Watch.

Barrett Schmanska lived in Seattle when this article was initially printed.

Action Taken at October 26, 2015 MeetingContinued from page 13

Bellingham City Council

208. Appropriate $6,338,430 for goods and services checks issued from October 2 through October 15, 2015? (AB21024/21025) Approved 7-0

209. Hold a public hearing on November 9 to allow the city to absorb the Transportation Benefit District? At the 7/12/2010 meeting, vote #144, the City Council established the Bellingham Transportation Benefit District as a separate entity. It was to be governed by the City Council and preference given to projects that improve safety, travel time, air quality, traffic flow, freight mobility, etc.

At the 11/2/2010 general election, Bellingham voters approved a sales tax increase to fund transportation improvements. In 2015, the state Legislature passed legislation that allows a city to assume all “rights, pow-ers, functions and obligations” of the Transportation Benefit District? AB21017 (Resolution 2015-022) Approved 7-0

210. Authorize the mayor to accept a $54,835 federal grant to purchase heavy-duty vehicle extrication tools? The fire department has been awarded an Assistance to Firefighters Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to purchase the extrica-tion tools. The federal grant requires local funds of $5,483 for a total of $60,318. AB21001. (Ordinance 2015-10-043) Approved 7-0

located in Blaine Harbor? At the 6/7/2005 meeting, vote #72, the port entered into an agreement with Port Roberts Press, Inc. for the construction of a two-story building at 225 Marine Drive in Blaine. Phase 1 demolished the existing building and constructed a two-story building. The top floor of the building is used by Point Roberts Press and the lower level rented to marine related users. Phase 2 would add an additional 8,000 square feet and construction would start on 6/1/2009. At the 6/2/2009 meeting, vote #90, the commission approved a modification of lease extending the construction date for Phase 2 to 6/1/2014. This modification adjusts rent for the next five years, removes the inflation adjustment clause, and moves the construction date of the Phase 2 to June 2025, subject to tenant’s receiving favorable financing. The nominal rent to the port over the five-year period will be $108,532. (5505/Action Item 3) Approved 3-0



The Fifties Are Gone Foreverby Barrett Schmanska

Originally criticized as a stooge of big land developers, the prop-erty rights movement has gained considerable populist support from ordinary citizens who feel victimized by environmental laws …. Members of the property rights movement strongly feel that economic opportunities and the middle class standard of living are being choked by environmental regulations. The broad appeal of the movement indicates that many in Washington agree.

[...]

Live Like IkeTo read property rights literature, one cannot help but get sentimen-tal for 1950’s America. It was the Eisenhower era. A time of social harmony and unprecedented eco-nomic expansion …. No doubt much has changed in over 40 years …. But for many Ameri-cans, the kind of life promised in 1950 remains a powerful vision. Opinion polls show that many

baby boomers, despite having experimented with its destruction in the Sixties, have or expect a life like their parents. Even today’s so-called Generation X, the younger post … baby boom generation, have an idealized view of the Fif-ties. […]

An Economy TransformedBetween 1950 and 1965, the United States experienced the most spectacular economic growth ever recorded in the mod-ern industrial world. The growth gave birth to the American middle class, and helped shape the expec-tations of the next three genera-tions of Americans. Along with the growth, American society was transformed. Millions of people moved from small towns across America to industrial centers to take advantage of high paying manufacturing jobs …. It would take about 20 years for Japan and Germany to regain their economic strength. Once recovered, Japan and Germany would end Amer-ica’s monopoly on manufactured products, and the Eisenhower Era would come to an end.

Rise and Fall of the Working ManThe single most dramatic change in the American economy over the past 45 years has been the loss of traditional blue collar industrial jobs. Never before has a class of people risen so quickly, then fallen so hard …. This would be the first generation of American workers who, though more productive than their parents, would live less well than their parents.

Live Like RosanneThe impact of the economic changes has fallen hardest on so-called blue collar workers liv-ing in American’ rural areas and the suburbs …. The standard Property Rights notion that envi-ronmentalists and environmental regulations are responsible for middle America’s economic de-cline is not supported by the facts. Environmental laws have little or nothing to do with the loss of manufacturing jobs …. The anti-environmental, anti-urban, anti-intellectual rhetoric espoused by the Property Rights movement has struck a resounding chord with a number of suburban and rural

constituents who are looking to blame someone or some group for the destruction of their economic well-being ….

A Daunting ChallangeDespite considerable evidence that environmental protection is good for Washington’ overall economy, there are large numbers of rural and suburban landown-ers … who have been unable to find a place in the new global, information based economy. It is this group that is being asked to sacrifice potentially huge develop-ment profits in order to promote environmental protections …. Unlike twenty years ago, land development has become a way to maintain a foothold on a middle class standard of living. [...]

Like all economic revolutions before this one, there will be no turning back and there are limited options …. Building a consensus in an age of economic transforma-tion is a daunting task, but it can be done. We can begin by agreeing that the 1950’s America is long gone.

Washington Environmentalists Billy Frank Jr. and

William Ruckelshaus

Honored

Indian Street in Bellingham was renamed Billy Frank, Jr. Street during a ceremony on Nov. 16, 2015, led by City Council Member Terry Bor-nemann. Bornemann brought the idea of the name change to the city council this year. Residents can see the newly-assigned street sign at the intersection of what had been Indian and Laurel streets.

Frank, a member of the Nisqually Tribe, served as the Chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commis-sion for 30 years and was the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions. He fought for both Indian treaty rights and environmental stewardship throughout his lifetime. His efforts helped lead to tribal co-management of salmon resources in Wash-ington state and reaffirmed that the United States must honor treaties made with Na-tive American tribes. Frank was arrested dozens of times for acts of Civil Disobedience related to exercising his fish-ing rights. He passed away in May 2014.

In addition to the street name change, Frank was named a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient post-humously. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the na-tion’s highest civilian honor and is awarded to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the secu-rity or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

Also recognized with the Presidential Medal of Free-dom was William Ruck-elshaus, who lives in Medina, a suburb of Seattle. Ruck-elshaus served as the first and fifth administrator of the Environmental Protec-tion Agency and worked to bring the public’s voice into the decision-making process, while tirelessly advocating for improved public health and environmental issues as a leader in the recovery of salmon populations and the cleanup of Puget Sound. He is now chairman of the William D. Ruckelshaus Center at the University of Washington and Washington State University.


Whatcom County CouncilCourthouse311 Grand Avenue Bellingham, WA 98225

ExecutiveJack Louws(360) 676-6717 (phone)(360) 676-6775 (fax)[email protected] Expires: January 2016

County Council311 Grand Avenue #105Bellingham, WA 98225(360) 676-6690 (phone)(360) 738-2550 (fax)http://[email protected]

At-LargeVice-Chairperson Rud Browne1,2

(360) 820-9494 (mobile)[email protected] Expires: January 2018

District 1, Pos. ABarry Buchanan1,4


District 1, Pos. BExecutive Pro-TemporePete Kremen3

(360) 734-3802 (home)[email protected] Expires: January 2016

District 2, Pos. AKen Mann2,3


District 2, Pos. BSatpal Sidhu1,4

(360) [email protected] Expires: January 2016

District 3, Pos. AChairperson Carl Weimer4(360) 384-5919 (home)[email protected] Expires: January 2018

District 3, Pos. BBarbara Brenner2,3(360) 384-2762 (home)[email protected] Expires: January 2016

Committees1. Finance/Administrative2. Planning/Development3. Public Works/Safety/Health4. Natural Resources

Upcoming MeetingsTwice a month except August and December.December 8; 7 p.m.January 12 and 26; 7 p.m.February 9 and 23; 7 p.m.March 8 and 22; 7 p.m.

Compiled by Barry MacHale


Action Taken at September 29, 2015 Meeting

Shall the council:171. Approve a $15,000 contract (amendment #9) with Van Ness Feldman, GordonDerr of Seattle for legal rep-resentation in a Growth Management Hearings Board case? The law firm is representing the county in the various stages of its legal defense of Ordinance No. 2012-032 before the Growth Man-agement Hearings Board. The firm will offer additional preparation assistance to the county on an as-needed basis. The original contract was approved at the 12/4/2012 meeting, vote #222. This amendment brings the total contract to $175,000; it expires on 12/14/2015. (AB2014-136D) Approved 7-0

172. Authorize the executive to accept a $286,853 state grant for substance abuse prevention services? The state requires the county to form a community-based advisory group to determine substance abuse prevention needs, plan, and implement services to prevent the misuse and abuse of alcohol, marijuana, tobacco, and other drugs by youth. The two-year contract expires 6/30/2017. (AB2015-281) Approved 7-0

173. Authorize the executive to accept a $964,115 state grant for substance abuse treatment and outreach services? The nine-month contract runs from from 7/1/2015 to 3/31/2016, after which the regional Behavioral Health Organization will provide the services.(AB2015-282) Approved 7-0

174. Approve the 2015-2016 collective bargaining agree-ment with the International Organization of Masters, Mates, and Pilots and the Inland Boatmen’s Union of the Pacific? The agreement covers eight deckhands and three masters. The agreement includes: a 3.9 and 5 percent wage increase for union members, respectively; a monthly county contribution of $1,089 for employee health plans, with an employee cap of $85; longevity and holiday pay; and reimbursement up to $150 over three years for em-ployee purchase of inclement weather gear. The agreement begins on 9/29/2015 and expires on 12/31/2016. (AB2015-285) Approved 7-0

175. Authorize the executive to award the lowest responsive bid of $531,929 to Reisner Distributor of Lynden for the annual supply of fuel? Although the lowest bid was $517,180 from Associated Petroleum Products, Reisner Distributor of Lynden was recommended because they could deliver fuel quicker than the other respondent, within 24 hours of receipt of order. The fuel provided includes biodiesel, diesel, and unleaded fuel for the Central Shop, the Lummi Ferry, and Silver Lake Park. The contract includes the option of extending service with up to three one-year renewals. The price is subject to change due to market fluctuations and the actual amount of fuel used by the county. The annual supply of fuel was advertised and two bids were received. Fuel expenditures in 2014 were $743,849. (AB2015-289) Approved 7-0

176. Authorize the executive to sign a $35,000 contract with RE Sources of Bellingham for a waste reduction and recy-cling eduction program? RE Sources will design and implement a countywide education program at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. The focus is on waste prevention, recycling, composting, household hazardous waste, and proper waste disposal. The one-year contract expires on 8/30/2016. (AB2015-290) Approved 7-0

177. Approve the six-year (2016–2021) transportation improvement program? (Public hearing held) State law requires counties to update their transportation plans yearly. The program establishes a list of needed capital improvements and eligibility for state and federal funds, and sets the rate for impact fees. The 14-year (2016–2029) Ferry Capital Program is also approved. AB2015-271 (Resolution 2015-033) Approved 6-1, Barbara Brenner1 opposed.

178. Appoint a director and two alternate directors to the board of directors of the Washington Counties Risk Pool? The risk pool provides member counties with programs of

self-insurance, claims handling, risk management, and administrative services. The director is the human resources manager. One alternate director is the prosecutor-designated civil deputy and the other alternate director is the associate manager of human resources. AB2015-291 (Resolution 2015-034) Substitute approved 7-0

179. Order the cancellation of uncashed checks issued between 7/1/2012 and 6/30/2013? There are 554 uncashed jail inmate trust fund checks totaling $2,680. Eight checks are for amounts above $50 for a total of $829. The money will be transferred to the state of Washington as abandoned property where it will be available to the payee indefinitely. AB2015-251 (Resolution 2015-035) Approved 7-0

180. Amend the 2015 flood control district budget (re-quest #3) in the amount of $340,000? (Council acting as the flood control district board of supervisors) Appropriate: $40,000 for the final design phase of the Semiahmoo Drive drainage system repair project at Birch Point; $300,000 for stormwater improvements for Seaview Drive. AB2015-277 (Resolution 2015-036) Approved 7-0

181. Request the executive continue to negotiate with the city of Bellingham on a new long term Jail Facility Use Agreement while the voters consider a jail tax? The substitute addresses grammatical errors contained in the original agenda bill. AB2015-278 (Resolution 2015-037) Substitute approved 6-1, Ken Mann opposed.

182. Establish a reduced speed limit on a portion of Samish Way? (Public hearing held) The speed limit is reduced from 50 to 35 miles per hour from 500 feet east of Galbraith Lane to the Bellingham city limits. The reduction is a safety measure in response to an increase in bicycle and vehicle traffic at the Lookout Mountain trailhead located on Samish Way. AB2015-274 (Ordinance 2015-039) Adopted 7-0

183. Establish parking restriction on a portion of Samish Way? (Public hearing held) Parking on the north side of Samish way is restricted from 500 feet east and 500 feet west on either side of Galbraith Lane. The restrictions are a safety measure in response to an increase in bicycle and vehicle traffic at the Lookout Mountain trailhead located on Samish Way. AB2015-275 (Ordinance 2015-040) Adopted 7-0

184. Amend the 2015 budget (request #10) in the amount of $165,635? Appropriate: $15,000 for outside legal counsel for the County Council pertaining to Growth Management Hearings Board cases; $46,200 for emergency services provided by What-Comm E911; $65,000 for housing services for homeless individuals experiencing men-tal illness and/or youth with serious emotional disturbance; $39,435 for a full-time Human Services supervisor position to address a substantial caseload increase. AB2015-276 (Ordinance 2015-041) Adopted 7-0


Shall the council:185. Commit Whatcom County to adopting a “healthy planning” approach? (Council acting as the board of health) A “healthy planning” approach involves inclusion of health criteria in the development and adoption of community plans and policy. The Whatcom County Public Health Advisory Board, working with the Whatcom County Health Department and other city and county departments, will identify and recommend tools, processes, and op-portunities to integrate a health perspective in community planning processes and decision-making. (Resolution 2015-038) AB2015-310 Approved 6-0, Pete Kremen absent.

1From Barbara Brenner: I opposed the transportation improvement program because we could have, and should have taken more time to ensure the highest priorities were better addressed. Public works prioritized some road work that should not have used county road funds. That created less money available for high priority projects that required county funds and for which a large part would have been paid by a developer.


Whatcom County CouncilContinued from previous page


Shall the council:186. Appoint seven members with technical expertise to the Wildlife Advisory Committee? The council created the Wildlife Advisory Committee at the 7/7/2015 meeting, vote #131. The committee will have eleven members, with seven required to have tech-nical expertise in wildlife and habitat management. The committee will terminate on 6/31/2016. (AB2015-175A) Appointed: Barry Wenger, Vikki Jackson, John McLaughlin, Frank Bob, Fenner Yarborough, Joel Ingram and Michael P. Williams.

187. Approve the recommendation of the Economic De-velopment Investment Board for a $3 million grant/loan to the Port of Bellingham? The $1 million grant and a $2 million loan will support the expansion project of All American Marine, a port tenant since 2002. The company has outgrown the 20,000 square foot Warehouse #9 manufacturing building. This grant/loan will help pay for demolition of Warehouse #9 and site preparation and the construc-tion of a new 39,000 square foot building.The expansion will allow All American Marine to add 27 jobs to its current roster of 43 employees. The grant/loan will be paid back over 20 years. (AB2015-286) Approved 4-0, Pete Kremen, Satpal Sidhu and Carl Weimer absent.

188. Authorize the executive to accept a $144,900 state grant to replace the HVAC system at the Plantation Rifle Range? The grant funding will cover approximately 50 percent of the total cost of $289,900 to replace the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system at the indoor shooting range. The contract begins on 9/1/2015 and expires 12/31/2016. (AB2015-298) Approved 4-0, Pete Kremen, Satpal Sidhu and Carl Weimer absent.

189. Authorize the executive to accept a $177,500 federal grant to fund Purchase of Development Rights easements? The Purchase of Development Rights program acquires conservation easements to protect farms from conversion to non-agricultural uses. The grant will fund approximately 50 percent of the easements on the Grubbs and Justin/Constance Williams properties. The expiration date is 8/31/2019. (AB2015-300) Approved 4-0, Pete Kremen, Satpal Sidhu and Carl Weimer absent.

190. Authorize the executive to accept a $200,000 grant from the Whatcom Community Foundation? The grant will provide matching funds for Whatcom County conservation easements to protect farms from conversion to non-agricultural uses from the 2014-2015 list of applicants. The matching grant expires 12/31/2016 (AB2015-301) Approved 4-0, Pete Kremen, Satpal Sidhu and Carl Weimer absent.

191. Appropriate $300,000 for the East Whatcom Re-gional Resource Center? At the 5/26/2015 meeting, vote #90, the council authorized the executive to apply for a state grant in the amount of $750,000 to partially fund the construction of a multi-use building expansion at the East Whatcom Regional Resource Center. The county has been notified it was awarded the grant. The total cost of the project is $1,550,000, with the county providing $300,000 in matching funds required by the state. AB2015-307 (Resolution 2015-039) Approved 4-0, Pete Kremen, Satpal Sidhu and Carl Weimer absent.

Action Taken at October 27, 2015 Meeting Satpal Sidhu was only present for the public hearing, vote #201. He left the meeting feeling ill.

Shall the council:193. Approve two one-year extensions for final approval of the Monterey Heights long subdivision and planned unit development? At the 3/16/2010 meeting, vote #45, the County Council adopted the Whatcom County Hearing Examiner’s recommendation and approved the Monterey Heights subdivision and planned unit development. Mayflower Equities of New York is request-ing two one-year extensions for a long subdivision and planned unit development on 31 acres in the Birch Bay urban growth area, located at the intersection of Selder Road and Birch Point Road. Applicant plans to create 51 single-family residential lots and six tracts. Applicant failed to submit phase one as required within the five years of preliminary approval, and has requested an extension. (AB2015-122) Approved 6-0, Satpal Sidhu absent. 194. Fill four vacancies on the Wildlife Advisory Com-mittee? The council created the Wildlife Advisory Committee at the 7/7/2015 meeting, vote #131. The committee will have 11 members, seven of whom will have expertise in wildlife and habitat management. At the 10/13/2015 meeting, vote #186, seven members with wildlife and habitat management expertise were appointed. The committee will terminate on 6/31/2016. (AB2015-175A) Appointed: Christopher Kazimer, Paul Woodcock, Guy Occhiogrossa and Wendy Harris. 195. Authorize the executive to sign an amended agreement with the Whatcom County Flood Control Zone District and subzones for district operations and administra-tion? (Council acting as the flood control district board of supervi-sors) The agreement clarifies that the flood control district will adopt budgets annually, as required by state law. (AB2015-311) Approved 6-0, Satpal Sidhu absent. 196. Authorize the executive to sign a $112,600 contract (amendment #7) with FHB Consulting for the agricul-tural-watershed pilot project? At the 3/27/2012 meeting, vote #52, the County Council authorized the executive to accept a state grant for watershed protection and restoration. At the 6/19/2012 meeting, vote #109, the council authorized a contract with FHB Consulting for services related to phase one of the agricultural-watershed pilot project. This amendment increases the scope of FHB’s consulting tasks, and directs remaining grant funds to the following additional tasks: 1)

192. Consider a petition to vacate a portion of an un-named alley within the Birch Bay West End Estates plat? On 4/2/2015, Brian Southwick and Linda Kiens submitted a petition for the vacation of a portion of an unnamed alley in exchange for a new alignment of equal value. The county engineer will investigate and report to the council on the proposed vacation, so that a public hearing can be held upon the matter. Additionally, the county is requiring a surety bond in the sum of $790. AB2015-304 (Resolution 2015-040) Approved 4-0, Pete Kremen, Satpal Sidhu and Carl Weimer absent.

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Become an

Eagle Watcher

Volunteer

Do you like spending time outdoors, meeting new people, learning about bald eagles, salmon, the Skagit River and the North Cascades? If you are an adult who enjoys winter birding, and sharing your knowledge with others then the Forest Service is looking for you! We are in search of volunteers who are passion-ate about public education and outreach.

Volunteers will staff in-formation stations near eagle viewing areas along the Skagit River and look at eagles through spotting scopes while educating the public about bald eagles and the Skagit River Sys-tem. 2015 marks the 23rd year for the Eagle Watchers Program and we would love to see new volunteers.

Eagle Watchers will run on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 3 pm Dec. 12, 2015 through Jan. 31, 2016. Public information stations are located at How-ard Miller Steelhead Park in Rockport, WA, Milepost 100 (Hwy 20) and Mar-blemount Fish Hatchery.

Applications will be ac-cepted on a first come, first serve basis. Volunteer solo or with friends and family. For more informa-tion contact Erica Keene by sending an email to: [email protected].

Check out the blog at: https://skagiteaglewatchers.wordpress.com/about/ for the latest event updates and eagle counts.

Join us on Twitter @editorwwatch

Join the Whatcom Watch FB Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/whatcomwatch/


$60,200 for the development of a policy framework and procedures for governing and mitigating the conversion of agricultural lands, and 2) $52,400 for watershed characterization and mapping. This amend-ment brings the total contract to $346,119; it expires on 6/30/2016. (AB2015-312) Approved 6-0, Satpal Sidhu absent. 197. Authorize the executive to sign a $137,157 contract with Herrera Environmental Consultants of Seattle? The con-tract will update the capital projects section of the the Lake Whatcom Comprehensive Stormwater Plan. The council adopted the stormwater plan at the 5/6/2008 meeting, vote #93; the primary goal of the plan is to identify projects that would reduce pollution in Lake Whatcom. The scope of this contract includes identifying and prioritizing capital improvement projects, development of a Sudden Valley sub-watershed master plan, and facilitation of public meetings. The contract expires on 6/30/2017. (AB2015-313) Approved 6-0, Satpal Sidhu absent. 198. Authorize the executive to award the low bid of $91,842 to Hillco Contracting of Bellingham for HVAC upgrades? At the 12/9/2008 meeting, vote #243, the County Council approved the initial design and construction of the the East Whatcom Regional Resource Center. The work was advertised and two bids were received. (AB2015-314) Approved 6-0, Satpal Sidhu absent. 199. Authorize the executive to spend $97,329 to purchase three Ford F150 half-ton pickup trucks? On 9/15/2015, a low bid for the three trucks was awarded to Northside Ford of Portland, OR. Neither the low bidder nor the other bidder, Blade Chevrolet of Mount Vernon, was able to supply the vehicles, so they will be pur-chased from Corwin Ford of Pasco using Washington State Contract #03813. (AB2015-315) Approved 6-0, Satpal Sidhu absent. 200. Authorize the executive to sign a contract not to exceed $150,000 with the Whatcom Alliance for Health Ad-vancement to support the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force? At the 6/9/2015 meeting, vote #108, the County Council created the task force to provide recommendations to reduce the incarceration of individuals with mental illness and/or chemical dependency by providing alternatives to incarceration. Under the contract, the Alliance will provide facilitation services to support the task force. The contract will expire on 12/31/2016. (AB2015-316)


Action Taken at October 27, 2015 MeetingApproved 6-0, Satpal Sidhu absent. 201. Approve the sale of an access easement over What-com County-owned property? (Public hearing held) Applicants Brian Kerkvliet and Alexandra King request access to their property across “Abel Pit,” county-owned property. Since the 1970s a paved road from East Laurel Road across “Abel Pit” has allowed access to the Kerkvliet/King property. Applicants desire to have legal access to this paved road. The applicants will be required to compensate Whatcom County $934 for the access easement, as appraised. AB2015-309 (Resolution 2015-041) Approved with substitute pages 7-0. 202. Request the executive develop spreadsheet models to make it easier for the Whatcom County Council, the city of Bellingham, and other interested parties to under-stand the impacts of the various proposals related to a new long term jail facility use agreement? The County Council desires fiscal impact models so that it can evaluate the city of Bellingham’s proposal(s), in addition to giving consideration to the concerns of other stakeholders within Whatcom County related to the proposed jail project. The County Council requests that the executive work with county staff and city of Bellingham to develop a current jail utilization model, a jail financing model, and a proposed new jail

Being Frank

by Lorraine Loomis

Did you know that over the past four decades the 20 treaty Indian tribes in western Washington have reduced their salmon harvests by more than 75 percent to protect

the resource? That tribes have restored thousands of miles of fish and wildlife habitat? That tribal hatcheries release about 40 million salmon annually to provide harvest for everyone?

If you didn’t know, you’re not alone.

Despite many years of tribal ef-forts to protect and restore natu-ral resources, research has shown us that many folks in western Washington are unaware of our commitment and contributions to natural resources management.

That research showed that while most in western Washing-ton have a generally favorable opinion of tribes, many have little knowledge of tribal efforts to protect and enhance natural resources.

They include newcomers to the region, young people and even some who have lived here for a long time.

We want to change that.That’s why we have begun a new

communications effort through the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC) to let the people of the Pacific Northwest and beyond learn more about the good work of the treaty tribes in western Washington.

It’s called Northwest Treaty Tribes: Protecting Natural Re-sources for Everyone. We chose this name because it makes clear that we are using our treaty rights to restore, protect and enhance not only our cultures and way of life, but those of everyone who lives here. We’re doing it through every mile of fish habitat we restore, every salmon we release from one of our hatcheries, every effort to improve water quality, and everything else we do in natural resources man-agement.

You will see the Northwest Treaty Tribes effort reflected in all com-

munications from the NWIFC, such as the quarterly magazine, website and social media. The NWIFC will continue to operate as it always has. Organizational and other information about the NWIFC will continue to be avail-able online at nwifc.org.

Social media is a large part of the Northwest Treaty Tribes effort, and we hope you will engage in the conversation online. You can learn more at nwtreatytribes.org, by visiting the Northwest Treaty Tribes Facebook page, and follow-ing us on Twitter and Instagram: @nwtreatytribes.

We look forward to hearing from you and sharing with you how the treaty Indian tribes in western Washington are working hard every day to restore, protect and enhance the natural resources of this place we all call home.

For more information, go to http://nwtreatytribes.org

Introducing Northwest Treaty Tribes

Lorraine Loomis is the chair of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission www.nwifc.org

Whatcom County Council

2From Barbara Brenner: I opposed the spreadsheet models because they implied the jail project could be started all over again and I felt that should not be considered until after the public vote on November 3, because it would be confusing to many residents.


Free Holiday Parking at the Commercial

Street Parking Garage

To encourage people to support local businesses by shopping in downtown Bell-ingham this holiday sea-son, the city of Bellingham and Downtown Bellingham Partnership are offering four hours of free parking on the first floor of the Commercial Street Parking Garage. The holiday parking will begin on Friday, November 27 and run through Friday, December 25. People will be able to park for free for up to four hours on the first floor of the garage, which is located at 1300 Commercial Street. Parking after 5:00 pm and on weekends is always free at the Commercial Street Parking Garage, which is commonly referred to as the Parkade. Regular parking rates will re-main in effect at all on street parking meters.

“The Commercial Street Parking Garage is often over-looked as a prime location to park in downtown Bell-ingham, yet it’s only two to four blocks from most restau-rants, shops and businesses in downtown. There are more than 70 spaces available on the first floor and offering four hours of free parking there will allow people to do their holiday shopping at their favorite local busi-nesses and still have plenty of time to grab lunch and catch up with a friend,” said Nick Hartrich, Executive Director of the Downtown Bellingham Partnership.

The city of Bellingham is investing more than a million dollars in improve-ments at the Commercial Street Parking Garage over the next year. Upgrades in-clude better lighting, a new camera system and improved entrance signage. The new security camera system was activated in early November and security cameras are monitored 24 hours a day. The renovations are slated to begin in March and take a year to complete.

In previous years, the holi-day promotion was focused on free street parking, but the Downtown Bellingham Partnership and City of Bell-ingham want to highlight the underutilized Commercial Street Parking Garage.



poetrywatchby Boris Schleinkofer, poetrywatch editor

Poetry has a voice in our community, and the Whatcom Watch is adding to its chorus. You all love poetry, right? Well, here you go! Subject matter is unlimited, but poetry featuring or specific to Whatcom County and issues addressed by Whatcom Watch (government, the

environment and media) will likely get first preference.Let’s try to keep it to around 25 lines; otherwise, we might have to edit your work to fit. Don’t make yourself unprintable!

Send poems and your short, two-to-three-sentence bios, as a word document attachment to: [email protected] The deadline is the first day of the month.

Please understand that acceptance and final appearance of pieces are subject to space-constraints amd editorial requirements. By submitting, authors give Whatcom Watch express permission for first-time publication rights in paper and electronic editions of current or future volumes of Whatcom Watch.

“When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man’s concern, poetry re-minds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.” — John F. Kennedy

Bituminous Nightmare

by Timothy Pilgrim

Some horrors fade to black,carry fear of ribboned trains away —coal cars winding along the coast,bituminous nightmare shoveled aside,fiery crashes put out of mind.Certainly, no dust settles by tracks,

on cedar, maple, alder, ash —fine film on berries, children, grass.No train snakes border to B.C. pier, spews ebony lumps into cargo ships. No silica blows down Puget Sound,coats docks, boats, sails, masts.

No dust blankets bay, sinks deep, turns sockeye red to charcoal gray.No Lummi fisher paddles strait,cremates empty, blackened net on sable beach. In grimy sky, no ragged V’s of inky geese.

This poem was previously published in Windfall, Spring 2015 issue. Bellingham poet Timothy Pilgrim, emeritus journalism faculty member at WWU, has published over 250 poems and is co-author of Bellingham Poems. See his work at www.timothypilgrim.org.

Weeding Goosefoot

by Angela Belcaster

I am weeding in my sleep.Goosefoot, this time.I have to look it up when I wake:chenopodium.

It really does resemblethe sweet leathered foot of a goose—how many times I’ve kneltbrown-kneed, supplicant-positioned,then ripped them out of the ground?

Tricky, this weeding business. They bite back some,the ones who seem to know the stutters in my immunology,my hundred and seven Achille’s heels.

Truth: we are appalled by each other’s strangeness.

Me, walking about,searching for the next unmatched thing to rip out,they, wanting nothing morethan dirt, sun, and mercy.

Angela Belcaster lives in Bellingham, where she spends her time with loose and bound pages and six children. Her work has appeared in Florida Review, 80 Split, Rosebud, Tampa Review, Clover, A Literary Rag, and elsewhere.

Whatcom County Councilsize model. AB2015-295 (Resolution 2015-042) Approved 4-2 with Barbara Brenner2 and Pete Kremen opposed, Satpal Sidhu absent. 203. Establish regular Whatcom County Council meet-ing dates for 2016? The Whatcom County Charter requires the council to meet 22 times a year. Meetings are scheduled for: January 12 and 6, February 9 and 23, March 8 and 22, April 5 and 19, May 3, 17, and 31, June 14 and 28, July 12 and 26, August 9, September 13 and 27, October 11 and 25, November 9 (Wednesday) and 22, and December 6. AB2015-320 (Resolution 2015-043) Approved 5-1 with Barbara Brenner3 opposed, Satpal Sidhu absent. 204. Amend the 2015 budget (request #11) in the amount of $208,657? Appropriate: $127,600 to fund agricultural and watershed protection projects; $38,000 for the sheriff ’s office to fund antenna installation and upgrades by Verizon; $14,655 for the sheriff ’s office to replace 17 ballistic vests; $28,402 to improve communica-tion between the jail and the Courthouse. AB2015-308 (Ordinance 2015-042) Adopted 6-0, Satpal Sidhu absent.


3 6 0 . 6 7 1 . 2 4 2 01922 Grant Street, Bellingham

3From Barbara Brenner: I voted against meeting every other Tuesday because the schedule makes it difficult for residents to remember meeting dates. It would be much easier to remember the first and third Tuesday, or second and fourth Tuesday, or better yet, every Tuesday, rather than the approved schedule of every other Tuesday with some exceptions.

Jingle Bell Run Whatcom

and Skagit

Chosen as one of the “Most Incredible Themed Races,” Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis is a fun and festive way to kick off your holidays by helping others. Wear a holiday-themed costume. Tie jingle bells to your shoelaces. Raise funds to help find a cure for arthritis, the nation’s lead-ing cause of disability. Run or walk a 5k route with your team members and celebrate the season by giving.

Join others in Skagit Coun-ty on Sat., Dec. 5 for the Arthritis Foundation’s 8th Annual Jingle Bell Run/Walk. The event will start at the Bur-lington Visitor Center with a Kids Fun Run with the Elves at 9 am and follow with a 5K Run/Walk and Dog Trot at 9:30 am.

If you can’t make it to the Skagit event, Whatcom County holds its Jingle Bell Run/Walk on Sat., Dec. 12 beginning at 8 am at Bell-ingham High School at 2020 Cornwall Ave. For more in-formation on the Bellingham event, contact Lori McKnight by phone (360) 746-2663 or by email [email protected]

For more information on both events, go to www.jbr.org

The Stocking Project

Ragfinery, The Firehouse Café, Northwest Youth Ser-vices, and Interfaith Coalition are teaming up this holiday season to create and fill stock-ings for families in transition. You can get involved in three ways:

1. MAKE A STOCKING: Ragfinery, located at 1421 N. Forest Street, is hosting a FREE workshop with Jeni Cottrell and Harold Niven where participants will learn how to make stockings. Pat-terns and assistance will be provided. Sat., Dec. 12, 1 pm to 4:30 pm. Go to www.Ragfinery.com for details and to register.

2. FILL A STOCKING: We will be accepting gifts to fill stockings with un-til Thurs., Dec. 24 at The Firehouse Café, 1314 Harris Avenue in Fairhaven.

3. VIEW THE STOCK-INGS: Stockings will be dis-played at both Ragfinery and the Firehouse Café, then filled and donated to those in need by Northwest Youth Services and Interfaith Coalition over the holidays.


Anonymous Contributor (2)

Ann and Pug Edmonds

Hamalainen Charitable Trust

Amy Mower

Sandpiper TraceAnonymous Contributors (4)

Jacqueline Anderson/Jim Ashby

Lyle and Eileen Anderson

Alfred and Harriet Arkley

Donna and David Auer

Anita and Raymond Ballweg

Bill Beers

Douglas and Alyson Bestle

Bill Black

Beth and Jerry Brownfi eld

John Bremer

Ken Carrasco

Jean Cassill

Lisa Christianson

Dotty Dale

Philip and Ann Damon

Carolyn DeSilva

Jamie K. Donaldson

SustainingAnonymous Contributors (8)

Ingela Abbott

Appliance Depot*

Brooks Anderson

Mary Ann Armstrong

Kathryn Batchelor

Arlene Beacom

Bellingham/Whatcom

Peace and Justice Vigil

Vincute Biciunas

Bonnie and Charles Bird

Stoney Bird

Laura Brakke

Thomas Brakke

Kai Breshem/Byron Spence

Christopher Brown

Edwin and Linda Brown

Bob Burr

Joanne and Willis Cady

Community to Community

Development Project

Richard Conoboy

David and Judith Culver

Jayme C. Curley

Keith/Roberta D’Angelo

Robert and Dorothy Davis

Carolyn DeSilva

Ryan Drum

Lorraine Dukes

John and Kim Erickson

J. Kaye and Mollie Faulkner

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Local Government on TVChannel 10

Bellingham City Council MeetingsDecember 7 and 14; January 4, 11 and 25; 7 p.m.

Live telecast MondayCommittee meetings at 1 p.m. and regular meeting at 7 p.m.

Repeat telecast TuesdayCommittee meetings at noon and regular meeting at 7 p.m.

Repeat telecast Wednesday Regular meeting at 8 a.m.

Repeat telecast Saturday Committee meetings at noon and regular meeting at 7 p.m.

Whatcom County Council MeetingsDecember 8; January 12 and 26; 7 p.m.

Telecast: Wednesdays – 7 p.m.

Th e Bellingham Public Library has DVDs of meetings.

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Trumpeter NestAnonymous Contributor (1)

Bald Eagle Roost

Village Books EventsSaturday, December 5, 7 p.m. Gerrit Vyn, “The Living Bird: 100 Years of Listening to Nature” — Slide Show! Photographer, cinema-tographer, and sound recordist Gerrit Vyn travels around the world to document the lives of birds for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. A new book created for the lab’s 100-year anniversary, “The Living Bird: 100 Years of Listening to Nature,” explores our joyful and com-plex relationship with birds. Gerrit’s images along with thoughtful and inspiring essays by writers including Barbara Kingsolver, Jared Diamond, and lab director John Fitzpatick, take readers on a visual and experiential journey revealing the life-changing role that birds can play in our understanding of the natural world. In his talk, Gerrit will share many of his powerful images and video recordings from the fi eld. Gerrit Vyn is based in Seattle.Tuesday, December 8, 7 p.m. Blaine Wetzel and Joe Ray, “Sea and Smoke: Flavors from the Untamed Pacifi c Northwest.” The book is a travelogue chronicling the plucky ambition of a young chef deter-mined to create a world class dining destination in an unlikely place. A native of the Pacifi c Northwest, two-time James Beard winning chef Blaine Wetzel saw Lummi Island, with fewer than 1,000 residents, as the perfect vehicle for his brand of hyperlocalism: a culinary celebra-tion of what is good and nearby and fl avorful. Now, a reservation at The Willows Inn is one of the most sought-after in the world.Wednesday, December 9, 7 p.m. David Sattler, “The Miracle of Life at La Jolla Cove” — Slide Show! From Bellingham to San Diego, the Pacifi c Ocean coastline is revered for spectacular seascapes, miraculous tide pools, diverse wildlife, and breathtaking colors that fi ll the sky at the edge of day. With more than 145 magnifi cent color images, award-winning wildlife and nature photographer David N. Sattler presents glorious images of marine creatures and landscapes along one portion of the coast: La Jolla Cove. Sattler writes about his vision as a photographer and artist and passion for preserving lands for wildlife. We take care of what we love, and that is an implied thesis of this work. David N. Sattler is an award-winning wildlife and nature photographer and professor of psychology at Western Washington University. Thursday, December 10, 7 p.m. “Noisy Water: Poetry from Whatcom County, Washington” — Edited by Luther Allen and J.L. Kleinberg. “Noisy Water” includes poems by more than 100 Whatcom County poets whose writing has been previously published or who have es-tablished themselves as important voices in the poetry community. The poems range widely in form and style, with a thread of Northwest color stitching many of them to the region. Join us for this group reading featuring several local and regional poets.Monday, December 14, 7 p.m. Armchair Historians. Authors do not attend. Book lovers, you have heard the old adage: “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it!” We meet in the Writers’ Corner at Village Books to chat, discuss, and dissect the most cur-rent and interesting history being written. We will cover all eras and topics in our quest to “know history.” Join us! “Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World” by Liaquat Ahamed is a compelling account of how four powerful bankers played crucial roles in triggering the Great Depression and ultimately transforming the United States into the world’s fi nancial leader.Wednesday, December 16, noon–1:30 p.m. Engaged Citizens Book Group. Authors do not attend. Brown bag lunches are encouraged. “Plenty of Time When We Get Home: Love and Recovery in the Af-termath of War” by Kayla Williams. Kayla Williams’s raw, honest, and take-no-prisoners prose gives service members and families scarred by war the greatest gift of all: hope.

Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and take place in the Readings Gallery at Village Books, 1200 11th Street, Bellingham.

dec 2015: vol. 24 no. 12

Documents