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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay
November 4 - 10, 2021
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Daylight saving time begins November 7
County to extend golf cart zone, page 2
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Tony’s Just A Bite changes hands, page 5
Less than stellar Successful first Halloween on the berm voter turnout for election By Grace McCarthy
(See Election, page 10)
s The Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce, Blaine-Birch Bay Park and Recreation District 2 and Friends of the Birch Bay Library hosted the first trick-or-treat on the berm, which the chamber estimates roughly 2,500 people attended. C Street was also a popular destination for trick-or-treaters this year, and those who came out were not going to miss the Freeman’s seventh annual Halloween carnival and Blaine Food Bank’s celebration on October 31. More photos on page 7. Photo courtesy Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce
Unvaccinated Borderite cheer coach fired for not meeting school exemption accommodations By Ian Haupt The Blaine school board voted in favor of terminating the employment of cheer coach Christie Peetoom at its October 25 regular meeting after she didn’t meet school exemption accommodations for the vaccine mandate. On the board’s meeting agenda, under personnel matters in the consent agenda, was a list of staff members who were to
be either hired, separated, or approved requests for retirement, resignation or leave from the district. In an all encompassing vote on the consent agenda, the board approved the hiring of 17 people to the district as well as six leave requests and five resignations, according to the agenda. It’s unclear how many district employees left the district due to the state Covid-19 vaccine mandates. Blaine
County council reverses Drayton Harbor vote By Grace McCarthy Whatcom County Council unanimously voted 7-0 on October 26 to reverse its decision to create a Drayton Harbor no-shooting zone, just two weeks after the group narrowly voted on the issue. The ordinance had not yet been signed into law, leaving nothing changed after two years of dispute and a pushed vote in county council. In 2019, the city of Blaine requested county council create a no-shooting zone
in all of Drayton Harbor after receiving noise complaints and safety concerns from residents who lived and recreated near the popular waterfowl area. However, Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) officials said during public hearings that the safety issue was unfounded and the agency hadn’t received public safety complaints in at least two decades. Lummi Nation, which co-manages the Drayton Harbor area with WDFW, would not have been impacted by the hunting
restrictions, but feared discrimination if a no-shooting zone was created for other hunters. In June, county council amended the original motion that would have banned shooting for all of Drayton Harbor to create a 1,000-foot buffer in what councilmembers described as a ‘compromise’ between impacted parties. Council voted 4-3 on October 12 to expand the existing 300-foot buffer to (See Drayton, page 3)
school district superintendent Christopher Granger told The Northern Light in an email it would be difficult to report the number of individuals separated from the district without identifying them. As of the October 18 mandate deadline, 91 percent of district employees were vaccinated, and the remaining 9 percent (See School, page 13)
INSIDE
By 8 p.m. Election Day, 83 percent, or 49,925, of the approximately 60,000 ballots received by the Whatcom County auditor’s office had been counted. The auditor’s office had about 10,000 more ballots to count that were already in the office, in addition to ballots still arriving by mail and ballots in drop boxes after the last pick up of the day on November 2, county auditor Diana Bradrick said. Drop boxes are locked at 8 p.m. Election Day and ballots aren’t brought to the auditor’s office until the morning. “We still have a lot of ballots to process and tally,” Bradrick said. “The last results will be released the Monday before certification.” Under 32 percent of the 156,972 registered voters in Whatcom County voted this election. This is less than half of the nearly 81 percent of registered voters in Whatcom County who voted in the November 2020 election. The ballot measures made for an interesting race, with the Birch Bay library in question while it looks like North Whatcom Fire and Rescue will have to look for additional funding sources after voters rejected its levy. Proposition 2021-14 would establish a Birch Bay library capital facility area that will raise taxes by 11 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value to pay for the Birch Bay Vogt Community Library. Voters were 58.5 percent (1,587 votes) in favor and 41.5 percent (1,124 votes) against the levy. However, over 60 percent of voters need to approve it and over 40 percent of people who voted in the last general election need to vote. Christine Perkins, Whatcom County Library System executive director, said the library measure is short on ballots but supporters remain hopeful as the results are updated. Perkins roughly estimated the library would need about 350 more votes, and a significant number of those would need to be in support of the levy. “We’re so close,” she said. “We’re really cautiously optimistic that the voters will see
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