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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay
May 21 - 27, 2020
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Late interim police chief honored, page 2
Whatcom County directive to wear masks, page 6
Restaurants can now sell cocktails to-go, page 7
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Border closure extended until June 21 B y P a t G r u bb
s Families and friends from both sides of the US/Canada border have started gathering together at Peace Arch park since it opened on May 14 after being closed due to Covid-19.
Photo by Louise Mugar
Impacts from border restrictions could linger By Grace McCarthy The economic impact from the U.S./ Canada border closure has been swift, but the severity and length of that impact is unknown, said Laurie Trautman, director of Western Washington University’s Border Policy and Research Institute (BPRI). “I think this is going to create a little bit more of a friction of people crossing the border compared to what they’ve been doing over the last couple decades,” Trautman said. The longer the border is
restricted, she said, the less reliant people will become on crossing it to meet their needs. Since the border was closed to non-essential traffic on March 21, the number of people crossing the border in the Cascadia region, which includes all Pacific Northwest borders, has decreased 98 percent for both northbound and southbound traffic compared to crossing numbers for April 2019, Trautman said. On average, Blaine has seen a reduction from 10,000 personal vehicle crossings per day to 2,000, while
Who’s running in the August primary election? By Oliver Lazenby Filling week for the August 8 primary election was May 11 to May 15. The top two candidates in each primary race advance to the November 3 general election, regardless of party affiliation. Ballots for the vote-by-mail primary election go out July 15. U.S. Congress District 1 representative Six candidates filed to challenging incumbent Suzan DelBene, a Democrat from Kirkland:
- Steven Skelton of Snohomish, a Libertarian - Robert Dean Mair of Redmond, no party preference - Matthew Heines of Redmond, no party preference - Justin Smoak of Bellingham, no party preference - Derek Chartrand of Redmond, Republican - Jeffrey Beeler Sr. of Sultan, a Republican
42nd Legislative District Republican Jennifer Sefzik of Custer filed for position 2 to challenge incumbent Sharon Shewmake, a Democrat from Bellingham. Sefzik is a small business owner and high school debate coach. Blaine City Council member Alicia Rule filed to run for position 1 as a Democrat, against incumbent Luanne Van Werven, a Republican from Lynden. Dustin Gleaves, (See Election, page 2)
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Point Roberts has dropped from 2,300 to 120 entries per day. On May 19, the two nations announced that the border restrictions would be extended to nonessential travel at least until June 21. Essential travel is defined as U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents returning to the U.S. and traveling for medical, educational, work, emergency response and public health, cross-border trade, official government and military-related (See Border, page 3)
INSIDE
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the Canada/U.S. border closure to non-essential travel would be extended another 30 days until June 21. “This is an important decision that will protect people on both sides of the border,” he said at a press conference on May 19. The extension was a mutual decision by both governments. Trudeau said provincial leaders’ desire to keep the borders closed was instrumental in the extension. The U.S. has been harder hit by the pandemic than Canada. As of May 18, B.C. had a total of 2,444 cases, 335 active cases, 1,966 recovered cases and 143 deaths. Of the total active cases, 47 individuals are hospitalized with 12 of them in intensive care. Washington state has 18,611 cases and 1,002 deaths to date. Washington state doesn’t report active or recovered cases. Under the closure, non-essential travel is prohibited while essential travelers such as health professionals and transportation services continue to cross. In normal times, about 75 percent of border crossings are made by Canadians traveling to and from the U.S., meaning Whatcom County businesses have been hard hit by the lack of traffic. This is the second 30-day extension to the original order closing the border back in March. Members of the local border task force consider it likely that the closure will extend into July, at least past July 4.
Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Pets . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Classifieds . . . . . 11 Coming Up . . . . . 14 Police/Sheriff . . . 14
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