December 12 - 18, 2019
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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay HHHECRWSSHHH Postal Customer
IN THIS
ISSUE
Community leader honored with lifetime award, page 6
Construction of Birch Bay berm begins, page 10
Blaine to install new signs for visitors, page 13
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Bright start to season at Holiday Harbor Lights Bay Medical Clinic to remain open following acquisition By Jami Makan
s There was a high turnout for the Holiday Harbor Lights celebration in Blaine’s G Street Plaza on December 7. Hundreds of people gathered to listen to performances by Blaine school band members and a student choir. Following a countdown, Blaine’s 20-foot Christmas tree was lit. Santa soon arrived in a horse-drawn carriage and greeted children in the crowd. The day’s other attractions included a family-friendly run and walk in Lincoln Park, an art show and history museum at the Blaine Pavilion and a petting zoo and winter wonderland at Border Town Pizza.
Photo by Molly Ernst
Blaine man struck by vehicle after single-car crash By Jami Makan A Blaine man is recovering after he was struck by a vehicle on I-5 after getting out of his car following a single-vehicle collision. Peter Kovtun, 26, was traveling southbound on I-5 near milepost 241 in Skagit County at about 2:05 a.m. on December 7. His vehicle, a white 2014 BMW 428, lost control, struck a barrier to the right side and came to rest in the left lane of the highway. According to Washington State Patrol (WSP), Kovtun exited his vehicle and was standing next to it when he was then struck by a black 2018 Toyota Highlander driving
in the same lane. The Toyota was driven by 61-year-old Fu Ren of Vancouver, B.C., who was not injured or cited in the collision. According to the Washington State Department of Transportation’s WSDOT North Traffic Twitter feed, the collision resulted in the closure of all southbound lanes while WSP and WSDOT’s Incident Response Team attended the collision scene. Kovtun was transported from the scene to the University of Washington’s (UW) Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where a nursing supervisor told The Bellingham Herald that he was in critical condition on the morning of December 7.
Blaine man allegedly trapped, raped 13-year-old girl By Jami Makan A 43-year-old man allegedly trapped a 13-year-old girl in a bathroom in Blaine and sexually molested and raped her on multiple occasions in November. Jeremy Michael McDaniel was arrested and booked into Whatcom County Jail on December 5 on suspicion of second-degree child rape, second-degree child molestation and unlawful imprisonment. Blaine police were alerted to the sus-
pected crimes after the victim’s mother came forward and reported them, said Blaine officer Tim Richardson. He said the family was personally notified after McDaniel was arrested. McDaniel was arrested following an investigation that took several days. The investigation included a thorough interview with the victim, said Richardson. The investigation found that McDaniel trapped the girl in a bathroom by closing the door, preventing her from leaving. He
then forced her to perform sexual acts with him. The attacks allegedly occurred on multiple occasions starting in early November, with the last occurring around November 20. “We believe it occurred several times,” said Richardson. In order to protect the identity of the juvenile victim, Richardson declined to release the location of the bathroom or other details of the investigation. “We’d like to do our best to protect her,” he said.
Traffic was redirected to the exit at Nulle Road to get around the collision scene, until the scene was cleared around 4:41 a.m. Contacted by The Northern Light on December 9, a spokesperson for UW Medicine said that Kovtun was in “satisfactory condition.” WSP cited “speeds too fast for conditions” as the cause of Kovtun’s initial single-vehicle collision. WSP’s press memo stated that drugs or alcohol were not involved in the incident. A GoFundMe page has been created for Kovtun by a friend and is located online at gofundme.com/f/peter-i-kovtun.
INSIDE
Bay Medical Clinic, which was set to close at the end of December, will remain open following an acquisition by SuperTrack, a group of Whatcom County medical clinics. SuperTrack plans to operate the Blaine clinic starting on January 1 and will eventually expand the practice to include urgent care services. Bay Medical Clinic was opened by Drs. Marta Kazymyra and husband David Allan 39 years ago in Blaine. Its closure would have left the city without any MDs or Medicare doctors. “I still can’t believe that this is happening,” said Dr. Kazymyra, who is retiring. SuperTrack partner Dr. Sean Bozorgzadeh, MD, known to his patients as “Dr. Sean,” said that Dr. Allan will stay on part-time and that Bay Medical Clinic’s current staff will remain on board. “They know the patients and the patients know them,” he said. Dr. Sean said the transition should hopefully take two to three months and will involve bringing in new software for electronic recordkeeping. “We are excited to take over the clinic,” said Dr. Sean. “It’s a really good thing for the people of Blaine and a good thing for us.” Dr. Sean holds a degree in genetics and cell biology from the University of South Florida. He completed medical school at the University of British Columbia and a family medicine residency at the University of Toronto. He previously served as director of the emergency room at PeaceHealth United General Medical Center in Sedro-Woolley, and lives in Bellingham with his wife, who is also a family physician. They have three kids. Dr. Sean helped start SuperTrack about two years ago. It has a team of about seven medical providers who rotate through its locations in Bellingham and Point Roberts and accept most insurance plans. “Our philosophy of practice is to take care of patients in a one-stop shop,” he said. “We strongly believe in efficiency of care and accessibility.” Patients who have questions about the upcoming transition should call Bay Medical Clinic’s office at 360/332-6327.
Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Classifieds . . . . . 11 Coming Up . . . . . 14 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
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