HA
YE
ARTH DAY - AP
RIL 22
April 22 - 28, 2020
PP
FREE
Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay HHHECRWSSHHH Postal Customer
IN THIS
ISSUE
$3.5 million in drugs detected at border, page 3
Border closure extended again, closed until at least May 21
Mayor Onyon won’t run for re-election, page 5
Boat sales increase locally this year, page 9
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
The farmers market has an early opening
By Grace McCarthy
s People enjoy a sunny Saturday morning shopping at Blaine’s Market by the Sea. The market sells an assortment of items every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the G Street plaza. Photo by Ruth Lauman
Woman charged with Semiahmoo Park homicide encountered victim day before his body was found By Grace McCarthy The woman charged with second-degree murder of Thomas Flood, the 67-year-old man found in Semiahmoo Park shot to death on April 7, had encountered Flood the day before his body was found, according to court documents. Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) deputies arrested Lynda Clare Mercy, 62, as she left her Fairhaven apartment around 11 a.m. April 13. Mercy is being held in Whatcom County Jail on $1 million bail, according to jail records.
According to an affidavit of probable cause (APC) filed by WCSO deputy Erik G. Francis on April 13, investigators believe Mercy struggled over the last year with deteriorating mental health and was seen on a surveillance video arguing with Flood a day before his body was found off a trail near a Semiahmoo Park parking lot. In the APC for Mercy’s arrest, investigators believe: The owner of a restaurant near where Flood parked his van in Langley said surveillance footage showed Flood arguing with a woman, whom she later identified
Railway Café celebrates caboose’s centennial By Grace McCarthy Railway Café’s caboose continues to push new businesses forward as it reaches its centennial this year. “One hundred years is a milestone,” Railway Café owner Vicka Haywood said. “I want to bring it to the community’s attention that it’s part of Blaine and celebrate that the caboose is here because there’s only one caboose in Blaine.” The red-and-black caboose at 795 Peace Portal Drive has welcomed an assortment
of small businesses throughout the years, from fortune tellers to small cafes and postal businesses. Tony Andrews, owner of Tony’s Just A Bite, brought the 1921 caboose to Blaine in the mid 1980s after seeing businesses operating out of cabooses during a vacation in the Cascade Loop. Andrews contacted one of the businesses, who directed him to a seller in Woodinville refurbishing the wooden railroad car. In the months leading up to the caboose’s arrival in Blaine, Andrews posted a sign
saying “It’s coming” on his restaurant, Tony’s Sandwich Shop, where Chada Thai is now located. He dug a hole in the ground for the caboose, which Andrews said confused people more. “Then I changed the sign one day to say ‘It’s going to happen today,’” he said. Andrews said he originally brought the caboose to town with hopes that the city would use it as an information center but when the city decided not to pur(See Caboose, page 15)
as Mercy, around 1 a.m. on April 6. A Bellingham police officer who had checked on Mercy because of her HUD housing said her mental health had deteriorated over the last year. In January, the detective checked on Mercy after several complaints that she was becoming “‘more aggressive in her body language as well as verbal insults. Some are a bit scared of her when she acts in this manner,’” according to the APC. Mercy also appeared in Blaine Municipal (See Homicide, page 3)
Coming Up . . . . . 14 Classifieds . . . . . 11 Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Sports . . . . . . . . . . 7 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
INSIDE
The U.S./Canada border will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least May 21 after officials on both sides of the border announced its extension. The 13th extension was announced April 20, only a day before the current closure was set to expire. Both the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Canadian’s prime minister of public safety Bill Blair announced the extension in April 20 tweets. “To deter the spread of Covid-19 and protect our citizens, the United States is continuing restrictions on non-essential travel at our land borders through May 21, while maintaining the flow of essential trade and travel as we have for over a year,” a DHS spokesperson tweeted Tuesday. In the statement, the DHS spokesperson said the federal government is “engaged in discussions” with Canada and Mexico, also included in the border extension, on easing restriction as health conditions improve. DHS did not provide more details on those conversations in the tweet. The U.S. has vaccinated more residents than Canada. As of April 20, 25.7 percent of people in the U.S. were fully vaccinated and 40 percent had received at least one vaccine dose. In Canada, just 2.1 percent of the population had received two doses and only 17 percent of people had received one dose, according to the most recent Canadian government data available April 10. Over 132,321,000 people in the U.S. have received at least one dose while 7,290,869 people in Canada have received at least one dose. The U.S. has had 31,484,148 confirmed cases of Covid-19, according to CDC data. The increase of Covid-19 cases in the U.S. over the past seven days, 467,242, is 41 percent of Canada’s 1,131,773 total confirmed cases during the pandemic, according to CDC and Canadian government data. U.S. and Canada government officials have not announced a border reopening plan or date.
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