December 12 - 18, 2024
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IN THIS
ISSUE
Rep. Rick Larsen to hold town hall, page 2
Blaine school board extends Granger’s contract 3-2
Food bank leaders honored at city council, page 3
Borderite winter sports start, page 6
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
The Taylor Swift traffic jam that lasted for eras
By Nolan Baker
(See School, page 3)
s Taylor Swift held the final three concerts of her “Eras” world tour in Vancouver at BC Place stadium December 6-8, and the ensuing pilgrimage through the Peace Arch border crossing backed up traffic through Peace Portal Drive into downtown Blaine on December 6. Photo by Ruth Lauman See more photos of the pop star’s impact on Blaine on page 10.
Whatcom County added to Birch Bay Waterslides lawsuit, park eyes 2025 reopening By Grace McCarthy A Skagit County man who was severely injured on the Hairpin slide at Birch Bay Waterslides in August 2023 has named Whatcom County, Safe Slide Restoration and Kingworks Consulting Engineers as new defendants in his lawsuit against Birch Bay Waterslides. This comes as Birch Bay Waterslides has announced it is going through various changes, including new
management, as it plans to reopen summer 2025. Larry Baker, of Skagit County, filed a lawsuit against Birch Bay Jun Yu Waterslides LLC in Whatcom County Superior Court on May 9 after he spent nearly two weeks in Harborview Medical Center’s intensive care unit in Seattle resulting from serious leg injuries he sustained going down the park’s Hairpin slide on August 25, 2023. The original complaint alleged Birch
Caroling returns to Semiahmoo Resort By Grace McCarthy A longstanding holiday tradition is set to return to Semiahmoo Golf and Country Club’s Palmer Room on Saturday, December 14: Christmas caroling. The old-fashioned caroling event will return for its 23rd season at the Semiahmoo Resort after taking a hiatus since the pandemic. Award-winning children’s entertainer and recording artist Dana Cohenour, who has been hosting the event for the past decade, is bringing it back in partnership
with Semiahmoo Golf and Country Club. The event is free and donations to Blaine Food Bank will be accepted at the door. “It’s a wonderful tradition in the community that always grew,” Cohenour said. “We’re trying to build it back up into the treasured tradition it has been.” A visit from Santa will kick off the event at 4:30 p.m., followed by a special children’s program with Cohenour, owner of Dana’s Music Playground. Caroling will begin at 5:45 p.m. with Cohenour on the piano and her son, Jack, on the ukulele.
The event will end around 7 p.m., and complimentary cookies, cocoa and holiday punch will be provided. The caroling has typically been held at Semiahmoo Resort, but Cohenour said she believes the annual event will start a new tradition at the country club. The event has brought hundreds of people in the past, something Cohenour wants to continue. “Everyone has always felt the spirit,” (See Caroling, page 2)
Bay Waterslides was negligent because it had the duty to provide safe and adequate maintenance of the water park, provide customers with warnings regarding unsafe areas and have a system for inspecting unsafe conditions. In the amended complaint filed December 3, Baker’s lawyers wrote that Whatcom County had the duty to inspect, document (See Waterslides, page 5)
INSIDE
The Blaine school board voted to extend superintendent Chris Granger’s contract for an additional year, through June 30, 2028, after a 3-2 vote during its regular meeting on December 10. This is an extension of the contract approved by the board in June, which was previously set to expire at the end of the 2027 school year. Board president Cliff Freeman, Ryan Swinburnson and Ben Lazarus voted to extend the superintendent’s contract. Erika Creydt and Steve Galbraith voted against the extension. Galbraith laid out a host of reasons for why he did not want to extend Granger’s contract, namely the fact that Granger had interviewed for other superintendent positions, and said he views a three-year rolling contract as “not friendly” to the district. “There’s very little or no protections for the district should Dr. Granger get another job and he’s gone,” Galbraith said. “So I’m not in favor of the contract as written.” Swinburnson, who voted to extend the contract, agreed with Galbraith that some of the language in the contract needed clarification and amending, but voted to extend Granger’s contract, citing Granger’s work ethic through a five-year tenure of especially challenging circumstances, citing the pandemic and multiple years of budget cuts. “He’s been the superintendent for five years, which are probably some of the most tumultuous years in Blaine’s history,” Swinburnson said. “It’s very clear to me that the school district has a lot of healing to do, with not only its members but with the community. I think that healing starts at the top. It starts with Dr. Granger. It starts with the administration. With this board, we need to set aside any personal vendetta that we might have and start making decisions for the betterment of the students.” Virtually every board member that spoke
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