August 4 - 10, 2022
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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay HHHECRWSSHHH Postal Customer
IN THIS
ISSUE
City hall demolition starts August 8, page 3
Drayton Harbor Maritime Festival returns, page 7
Family Care Network update on facility, page 8
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
City’s planning Sand sculptures and cars take over Birch Bay power outage on August 8 and 9 By Grace McCarthy
s The annual Sand Sculpture Contest and Rollback Weekend returned to Birch Bay July 30 and July 31. The event-filled weekend was the first Canadians could easily attend since the U.S./Canada border closed to nonessential travel at the start of the pandemic. View more photos on page 6. Photo by Chuck Kinzer / CKimageart.com
Preliminary August primary election results foretell tight races in November By Grace McCarthy The August 2 primary election is turning out to be a hot election in Whatcom County. About 30 percent of the 155,458 registered county voters had turned in their ballots as of 8 p.m. Election Day. Whatcom County Auditor’s Office estimated another 12,600 ballots were left to count after nearly 46,580 ballots were counted. Sharon Shewmake (D) pulled ahead for the district 42 state senator seat, with 47.6 percent (15,279 votes) and will face incumbent Simon Sefzik (R) in the November general election. Sefzik received 33.4 percent in favor (10,707 votes). Ben Elenbaas (R) will not advance as he received 19 percent in support (6,077 votes). The two Republicans received 52.4 percent of the vote. Incumbent Alicia Rule (D) received 49.2 percent (15,715 votes) and will be challenged for the district 42 state representa-
tive position 1 seat by Tawsha (Dykstra) Thompson, who received 35.9 percent (11,481 votes) in support. Kamal Bhachu (R) will not advance to the November election as he received 14.9 percent (4,744 votes). The two Republicans received 50.8 percent of the vote. The district 42 state representative position 2 seat is proving to be a close race. Joe Timmons (D) was leading with 29.1 percent (9,229 votes), followed in second by Dan Johnson (R), who had 27.4 percent (8,691 votes). Kyle Christensen (R) received 23.8 percent (7,543 votes) and Richard May received 19.6 percent (6,191 votes). The two Republicans received 51.2 percent of the vote Whatcom County prosecuting attorney Eric Richey (D) is running without opposition to keep his seat. As for the Whatcom County District Court judge position 2, Jonathan Rands received 42.4 percent (17,824
votes) and will likely face Gordon M. Jenkins, who received 35.7 percent (15,017 votes) in November. David Nelson received (See Election, page 7)
INSIDE
The city of Blaine’s Public Works Department scheduled two overnight power outages from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. for the nights of Monday, August 8 and Tuesday, August 9. Many Blaine residents will be impacted for one night that is determined by their location within the city. Semiahmoo is not affected. The power outage is being done so public works crews can install new switches and electrical cables to improve the city’s electrical grid, according to the city’s website. The outage will only impact Blaine power customers, and not Puget Sound Energy customers. Gary McSpadden, the city’s acting public works director, said public works determined outage times that would have the least impact on residences and businesses. The city’s website will be updated as crews work with projected times power will return. The public works department will man the phones both nights and crews will be prepared to take care of water and sewer issues. “We have a pretty good plan in place and have crews to take care of any issues that arise,” McSpadden said. Most of the city west of I-5, from 0 Avenue to Dodd Avenue, including Marine Drive, will be impacted August 8. A section west of 6th Street and north of E Street to 0 Avenue will be included in the August 8 outage. On August 9, sections of east Blaine and areas east of I-5 will lose power. A large section will lose power from SR-543 to around North Harvey Road and H Street Road. Power will also be out in areas along Odell Road, Cost Cutter Plaza, Blaine school district’s main campus and Pipeline Athletic Complex. Power customers between H Street and Sweet Road, west of Flambeau Road and east of Harvey Road, will lose power August 9. The clusters losing power are fragmented. The city has published an outage map on its website for Blaine residents to determine whether they will be impacted. View the map at bit.ly/3zDKGB8. Blaine Police Department recommended on its Facebook page that residents should reach out to people they know who may not be aware of the power outage or rely on electricity for medical devices. See power outage map on page 4.
Coming Up . . . . . 14 Classifieds . . . . . 11 Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
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