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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay
July 23 - 29, 2020
HHHECRWSSHHH Postal Customer
IN THIS
ISSUE
New activities added at Miniature World, page 2
Blaine police chief bans neck restraints, page 6
Port releases map to local paddling access, page 8
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Ballots mailed Businesses report compliance with mask mandate for the August 4 primary election Update voter registration info online by July 27 By Oliver Lazenby
(See Election, page 3)
EXPERIENCE THE
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s A customer comes out of The Market at Birch Bay wearing a mask. As of July 7, businesses are required to enforce mask use. Photo by Grace McCarthy
Businesses say mask order needs little enforcement B y G r a c e M c C a rt h y Many Blaine-area businesses say they’ve seen compliance with customers wearing face coverings in stores since governor Jay Inslee issued a series of statewide mandates in late June and early July. A July 7 mask mandate required businesses to enforce the use of face coverings in their stores, which followed a June 26 mandate requiring people who are in public and cannot distance more than six feet to wear face coverings in public. On June 8, Inslee required that all employees wear face coverings unless working alone and that employers provide facial coverings to workers. Ployping Sripakdee, a part-time employee at Chada Thai in downtown Blaine, says the restaurant is only open for to-go orders in a part-outdoor transaction window the business set up to protect employees and customers. Sripakdee said she only sees a few cus-
tomers per day who aren’t wearing masks – about 10 percent – and most of them are younger. Sripakdee said she keeps her distance from customers and encourages them to pay by phone so she can put the order by the window and then walk away. Employees, managers and business owners from six other stores and restaurants say they’ve seen about a 98 percent compliance rate from customers. One of these people is Drew Sooter, manager at The Market at Birch Bay, who said he’s seen a decrease in customers who aren’t wearing masks since the first couple of weeks of the first mask mandate on June 26. At first, The Market at Birch Bay had an employee in the front handing out 30 masks per day but Sooter said those numbers have dwindled to 2-3 per day. An employee is no longer needed to hand out masks and instead, cashiers watch for mask-less shoppers from their checkout lanes.
The number of customers refusing to comply with the mandate, Sooter said, decreased from about five people per day to two per week. “I think the most challenging thing, regardless of political stance, is all we’re try(See Masks, page 7)
INSIDE
Ballots for the August 4 primary election were mailed July 15, and voters should also have received a voters’ pamphlet by now, according to the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office. Voters who haven’t yet received a ballot should contact the auditor’s office, said Whatcom County auditor Diana Bradrick. All statewide offices are on the primary ballot, including such local races as U.S. Congress District 1 representative, 42nd Legislative District and Whatcom County Superior Court Judge positions. The governor’s race has 36 candidates. The election is a top-two primary: The two candidates with the most votes advance to the general election, regardless of party. Ballots must be postmarked or placed in election ballot drop boxes by 8 p.m. on Election Day, August 4. Drop boxes are located at the Blaine Library, at North Whatcom Fire and Rescue at 4581 Birch Bay-Lynden Road, and at Custer Elementary School. All 18 Whatcom County drop box locations are printed on the insert enclosed with the ballot, as well as in the voters’ pamphlet. Postage is not required to mail in a ballot. Those mailing in a ballot should do so up to a week before Election Day, Bradrick said. “I think the public doesn’t understand that just because they get their ballot to the post office on Election Day, that doesn’t mean it will be postmarked in time,” she said. “If you’re going to wait until Election Day, you really should use a drop box. Every election we have hundreds of ballots that we can’t count because they’re not postmarked in time and we hate that.” The auditor’s office encourages residents to complete voter registrations and address updates online or by mail before Monday, July 27. After that, voters can still register until Election Day but must do it at the auditor’s office, at 311 Grand Avenue, Suite 103, in Bellingham. Masks and physical distancing are required at the office. Citizens with a Washington state issued
Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Classifieds . . . . . 11 Crosswords . . . . . 14 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
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