Letters to the Editor

It's up to us!
The Editor:
I am concerned about the environment. We need to start doing something about the problems we face in the environment today, such as pollution, landfills, wasted resources, littering, and one of the biggest things, negative attitudes about helping the environment.
The number of people and the action that has been taken has come a long way. But it’s still not enough. We can’t quit now. We need to help as many people as we can to get involved. Many people want to get involved, but don’t know where to start. So the people who know where to start and what to do, should try to help in any way possible.
It’s important to recycle your recyclable materials. Drive your car only when you have to (you can also carpool and ride the bus). Make it fun by getting together with your friends and family and pick up trash along the street or in a park.
You can start a recycling project or try some projects you find in save the earth books. Plants some flowers or a tree in your back yard. Ask to do some volunteer work or community service. What we do to the environment (pollute, litter, etc.) will be thrown back in our faces one day. So remember the three Rs... Reduce, Reuse and Recycle! After all, the environment’s future depends on you.
Kathy Lerner, (age 11), concerned citizen of planet Earth
Blaine

Did they say 'have a nice day?'
The Editor and the Magistrate of the Blaine Municipal Court:
My daughter and I were passing through Blaine during the Memorial Day weekend while en route to Vancouver. Unfortunately, while trying to find the entrance to the truck crossing, I failed to see a posted speed sign and drove faster than the 25 mph limit. I am not protesting my guilt and am willing to pay a fair fine. However, I must protest both to the amount of the fine which is much higher than the Washington State Police website and to the treatment that my daughter and I were subjected.
The incident was unnecessarily ugly and rude not befitting any law enforcement agent. It was an example of how not to serve and protect and a direct insult to all the veterans who have sacrificed their lives to protect the precious freedoms that we all cherish and are willing to die for. The Blaine police officer’s attitudes and tactics were prime examples of the type of behaviors that we have waged wars to eliminate.
It was obvious that the safety of the citizens of Blaine was not their concern but rather they had gleefully caught another victim in their trap. Their obvious Gestapo-type mentality needs to be held in check before a very serious incident occurs.
When we were stopped we were immediately treated like dangerous felons, instead of innocent, travelling American citizens. There were no questions such as “Did you realize that you were speeding?” Instead, we were automatically found guilty as they charged and were sufficiently intimidated to comply without any question for fear of our immediate safety. The excited and enraged officer demanded my documents including my social security number which I thought odd but did not contest under the circumstances.
When we called the Blaine Municipal Court to verify the amount we encountered a very rude but well trained series of employees who claimed to know absolutely nothing and offered no help at all. As travelers we have no choice but are forced to admit our guilt and to pay the fine unless we are willing to stay or return for a court hearing before a judge the following week.
Somehow, we unknowingly had broken the law and now we are subjected to outrageous punishment and fines by legally unchallenged representatives of the law in Blaine and the state of Washington. I am shocked and very disappointed over the ugly manner in which this incident was handled.
We are over 60 years old and are law-abiding, tax-paying citizens who should not be subjected to the hooligan tactics and attitudes of the Blaine police department. Something needs to be done to protect innocent Americans from the maverick Blaine police department which obviously does not recognize the value of established law and order, human rights or even a fair sense of protecting and serving fellow citizens not to mention common decency, courtesy and respect.
Instead, they anxiously lay in wait trapping innocent victims, treating them like escaped felons and then legally ransoming them without any thought of justice or fairness. The outrageous traffic fines are obviously a significant source of revenue for the city of Blaine. I will pay my ransom to the city of Blaine and I will try never to visit or do business with the outlaw style and manner of this city again.
I will now reluctantly make my last donation to the illicit city of Blaine and pay the fine under intense protest in hopes that other citizens concerned about the quality of law and order will take notice and be aware that decent American values are not honored in Blaine.
Bryan Mah
Corvallis, Oregon

See ya at the fair!
The Editor:
Our sympathies go out to county extension faculty member Drew Betz and her family as they mourn the passing of Drew’s daughter, Kate. Kate passed away suddenly May 12 at the age of 24. Kate will be missed by her many friends, family, and teachers at the South Seattle Community College.
Now that all of our Community Service activities and drives are winding down for the summer, the Discovery Club would like to thank the Blaine community for supporting our year-long projects by donating stuffed animals, card fronts, and garage sale items. We have really enjoyed working with everyone to create a better community spirit. Thanks also to the Blaine, Ferndale, and Lynden libraries for allowing our drop off boxes in their foyers.
We are continuing to collect the aluminum can pop tabs for the Spokane Ronald McDonald House. The house uses these tabs to defray general upkeep costs. To donate tabs or for more information, please contact our community service chair Tyne at 647-3341.
Thank you to the Christ Community Church for supplying the location for our 2nd Annual Fun Night held May 31. Feinn Rice-Narusch, aka The Clown, received first place in our costume contest. Thanks to all participating members for making this a fun time for all!
Since the Northwest Washington Fair is fast approaching, we are ending most of our projects in order to get ready. However, two projects will be continued, as they are short and can be completed over the next three months: Gardening for younger members and Aerospace for the older members. We would like to thank the parent leaders who made it possible for us to learn so many different skills this 4-H year. Hope to see you at the fair!
Stephanie Hiner
Lynden

Many, many thanks
The Editor:
Another school year is ending, and I am sitting here thinking about the next year to come. Paul Flores, my grandson lives with me. He is disabled and attends special ed classes. Paul loves school and the people who care for him and attempt to teach him new things at school.
You all have my thanks and regards. Gaye Sawicki, Paul’s teacher is wonderful and so generous with her time and her heart and her energy, thank you. To Patty Bryant who brings Paul home every day and makes sure that he knows the town he lives in and that the town knows him, thank you. All of the wonderful caring people in Paul’s class who so obviously care for Paul and enjoy him. also to Paul’s classmates who also play a big part in his day, thank you so much. A special thank you to Matthew and his mother Annemarie for picking Paul up in the mornings and making sure that he gets to his class. Thank you all for giving Paul another great year.
I wish you all a wonderful, happy, and I hope, warm summer. Next year is Paul’s last year of school. I know that when that year is over, it is going to be hard on Paul. He has become so fond of all of you and school is his life outside of me. But until then, thank you all again, have a great summer.
Nancy J. Cook
Blaine

NIMBY
The Editor:
I am a Canadian who has owned property in Birch Bay for over 30 years and count that as my second home. My two girls spent all of their summer holidays during their growing years at the ‘safe cabin’ and continue to spend time there with their three children, ages three to nine years, one girl, two boys. Many of my American neighbors have decided to make Birch Bay their permanent homes and send their children to Blaine for their schooling.
An event took place in May that has inflamed and insulted our neighborhood. Some of the homes within a quarter mile radius received notices from the sheriff’s department telling us that a convicted sex offender (two counts of rape of a child, in this case two minor boys) has moved onto our street. This person has only served six months in jail out of an 11-year sentence. According to the flyer, the risk of him re-offending is moderate.
As if this wasn’t bad enough, when we arrived last Friday afternoon, June 7, another flyer from the sheriff announced that another predator has been allowed to move in within a block of the first one (this one has served a sentence for statutory rape in the first degree, two counts, indecent liberties, three counts, on two girls and three boys aged three to seven years). This man is not under community supervision and is classified as at high risk to re-offend.
The community is, in my opinion, justifiably up in arms. The experts say that these people have to live somewhere, but does it make any sense to any thinking person that a resort community that hosts thousands of children in the summer months is a very, very poor place to put those offenders so that they may again re-offend.
Talk about putting foxes in the hen house. Our children and grandchildren have been placed at unjustifiable risk, do they not deserve better than this? There are a minimum of 20 young children within the square block of these two homes.
We are asking ourselves, how do the legislators and the justice system administrators sleep at night knowing what they perpetuated on the unsuspecting public?
How can anyone justify six months served out of an 11-year sentence?
Who will compensate us if we decide to sell our properties now worth much much less than market value? Who would purchase a property next to these places? I would feel morally-bound to tell a potential buyer what is going on in the area. The domino effect can be deadly on local businesses, I tell five people that Birch Bay is no longer safe, they tell five people, etc.
What kind of survey, if any, was conducted before these two people were allowed to move in here? Who made the ludicrous decisions to place these people in a resort area? How do I and anyone else with small and not so small children, who will lose their innocence soon enough, tell them about the bogey-man next door and why they can’t go and ride their bikes on the trails of an undeveloped county park that is just four lots away from one of these houses?
Don Bennett
Surrey, BC & Birch Bay, W

Letters Policy
The Northern Light welcomes letters to the editor; however, the opinions expressed are not those of the editor. Letters must include name, address and daytime telephone number for verification. Letters must not exceed 350 words and may be edited or rejected for reasons of legality, length and good taste. Thank-you letters should be limited to 10 names. A fresh viewpoint on matters of general interest to local readers will increase the likelihood of publication. Writers should avoid personal invective. Unsigned letters will not be accepted for publication. Requests for withholding names will be considered on an individual basis. Only one letter per month from an individual correspondent will be published.

Please send your letter to:
225 Marine Drive, Blaine, WA 98230 or fax 360/332-2777.
E-mail:editor@thenorthernlight.com

Letters Policy

The Northern Light welcomes letters to the editor; however, the opinions expressed are not those of the editor. Letters must include name, address and daytime telephone number for verification. Letters must not exceed 350 words and may be edited or rejected for reasons of legality, length and good taste. Thank you letters are limited to five individuals or groups. A fresh viewpoint on matters of general interest to local readers will increase the likelihood of publication. Writers should avoid personal invective. Unsigned letters will not be accepted for publication. Requests for withholding names will be considered on an individual basis. Only one letter per month from an individual correspondent will be published.

Please email letters to letters@thenorthernlight.com