July 9 - 15, 2020
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Council approves plat for Blaine development, page 3
SBA releases PPP loan data, page 5
Birch Bay, Blaine Fourth of July photos, page 7
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Rain doesn’t deter Black Lives Matter protesters County’s first low-barrier Covid-19 testing site opens July 10 By Oliver Lazenby
s A crowd of people listen to speakers at a Black Lives Matter rally in Blaine on Friday, July 3.
Black Lives Matter rally addresses racism in Blaine B y G r a c e M c C a rt h y Support for the Black Lives Matter rally garnered around 80 protestors huddled in the rain at G Street Plaza on Friday, July 3. Cardboard signs that read, “Say their names,” “I will never understand but I stand” and “Racism is a pandemic too” dotted the notably young crowd that had children to seniors in attendance. The rally came to fruition after Payton Ives, Blaine High School 2020 graduate, messaged Jaelin Ford, class of 2019, on June 30 about starting a rally after seeing a lack of action in the Blaine community following the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by Minnesota police officers on May 25, which started Black Lives Matter protests across the world. Ford was moving to San Diego on July 5 where she attends college at the University of California San Diego. As a Black woman, she felt Blaine’s lack of diversity wasn’t
conducive to her growth. “‘I told her, ‘We’d need to do it in the next three days,’” Ford recounted her conversation with Ives. By Friday, Ives and Ford had recruited 2020 graduates Claire Cooper and Annika Soderberg to help organize the event because of their social media activism for Black Lives Matter. The four Borderite alumnae contacted Blaine High School teacher Michael Dahl, who helped with the sound system, Blaine police chief Donnell Tanksley, who was in the crowd without uniform, and city manager Michael Jones, who advised the group on the regulation for a freedom of speech event at the plaza. Ford started the event at 5:04 p.m. giving a speech about her experience moving to Blaine in 2015 hoping to see community members who looked like her. Instead, she was called the n-word within her first month in Blaine. It wasn’t until college that Ford realized that she didn’t have to wear paler makeup and straighten her hair
to fit in. Within five minutes of Ford’s speech, two white trucks with Trump 2020 flags drove northbound and then southbound on Peace Portal Drive, revving their
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Photo by Kyra Planetz
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(See Rally, page 16)
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For two days starting Friday, July 10, it will be possible to get tested for Covid-19 in Whatcom County without a referral from a healthcare provider. The Whatcom County Health Department and Whatcom Unified Command are partnering with Northwest Laboratory and the city of Bellingham to pilot a low-barrier drive-through testing facility at the Civic Field Athletic Complex, at 1355 Civic Way, in Bellingham. The testing site will be open on Friday and Saturday, June 10 and 11, and will be open to everyone. Testing won’t require insurance, a healthcare provider’s referral or an appointment. “Opening an additional, low-barrier, drive-through testing facility in Whatcom County will create new capacity to test individuals for Covid-19. This model will also make it easier for people to access testing without the need for a referral from their healthcare provider,” said health department director Erika Lautenbach, in a July 7 press release. The press release didn’t say what time the facility would be open, or which days it would be open beyond the initial two days. In a Whatcom County Council committee of the whole meeting on July 7, Lautenbach said those involved were still planning the facility. “There’s a lot of details to be worked out and of course we want to tinker with the model to make sure we can operate as efficiently as possible and to be as available to people as we can,” Lautenbach told county council. Lautenbach said the facility would ideally be able to adjust capacity to respond to demand for testing. “There may be a period where this is three days a week and that is sufficient. There may be a period where this is seven days a week,” she said. Lautenbach encouraged people who had any issues with getting tested to email the health department at covid@co.whatcom. wa.us. “If we don’t know about it, we can’t do something to fix it,” Lautenbach said. More details about the facility will be announced later this week, according to the health department’s press release.
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