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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay
July 11 - 17, 2024
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ISSUE
Plover passes Coast Guard inspection, page 4
School district releases preliminary budget, page 5
Fourth of July photos, page 8-9
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Blaine’s Old-Fashioned Fourth of July
Blaine police chief Rodger Funk reflects on first three months By Grace McCarthy
s Blaine’s Old-Fashioned Fourth of July brought thousands of people to downtown Blaine for the parade, vendors fair, live music, beer garden, fireworks show and other celebrations. The historic Plover ferry was paraded in the festival before passing its final U.S. Coast Guard inspection on July 10 for major repairs that were discovered in fall 2022. View more Fourth of July photos on pages 8-9.
Photo by Louise Mugar
Initiative to repeal Healthy Children’s Fund to face legal challenge By Nolan Baker
Weeks after a Lynden-based political action committee, Washingtonians for a Sound Economy, collected enough signatures to introduce an initiative repealing Prop. 5, passed in 2022 as the “Healthy Children’s Fund” (HCF) tax, onto November ballots, Whatcom County Council voted 4-2 to bring the measure to a judge to determine its legality. Councilmembers Ben Elenbaas and Mark Stremler voted against, and councilmember Tyler Byrd abstained. During the July 9 county council meeting, some councilmembers argued that since the initiative is aimed at repealing a voter-approved tax, it should instead be classified as a referendum, which would (See Funk, page 6) require a much higher signature count to make it onto ballots. tjohnson;Seattle;Clean Air Heating & Cooling;C33432-154586;10x2-4C (24Su-B1)
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State courts have long determined that a citizen initiative can create a new law or work to better enact existing laws, but a referendum is needed to repeal existing laws, like the HCF. The $0.19 per $1,000 of assessed property value tax passed in 2022 by just 20 votes, and is expected to raise $100 million by 2032. Councilmember Todd Donovan, who originally questioned the legality of the repeal initiative in a previous council meeting, said voter trust is at stake with the initiative in question. “If it goes on the ballot and we vote on it and a court says later, after the fact, that this shouldn’t have happened, that’s a risk in terms of devaluing the meaning of a vote,” Donovan said. “There’s clarity we get from that in asking a judge, ‘Can we go
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Rodger Funk is nearing three months as chief of police in Blaine since starting the position April 15. As he settles into the job, Funk sat down with The Northern Light to share what he’s learned during his career in law enforcement, his approach to policing and his love for trail running. Funk grew up primarily in Bellingham and graduated from Sehome High School alongside his now wife. He went on to graduate from Central Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in law and justice and later obtained a master’s degree in management from American Military University, a private online university system. Funk has 28 years of law enforcement experience at the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO), where his first years were spent as a patrol officer and resident deputy at Baker Lake. He held several high-ranking positions at WCSO, including as chief for investigations and support services, where he oversaw the major crimes and the drug and gang task force bureaus, the records division, evidence unit and civil unit. He most recently served as chief inspector at the professional standards office. This interview was edited for clarity and brevity. What initially interested you in a career in law enforcement? When I was a teenager, I worked at Target. Target had security officers who worked undercover and one of those officers, Doug Burks, was a reserve police officer from Bellingham. He was always talking about his experiences and that just really sparked my interest. He eventually got hired by the sheriff’s office, and I got to spend my career at the sheriff’s office working with him. We were both deputies and sergeants, and went up the ranks together. It was a blast to get to work with him all those years. Was there something especially that interested you that he had talked about? That every day was different. They weren’t mundane tasks. We’re always evolving, always growing, there’s lots to learn. I liked the idea that I wouldn’t grow stagnant, that it was a job that would always
Coming Up . . . . . 14 Classifieds . . 11, 12 Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
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