Mary Trask was born and raised in the Midwest and moved to Washington 20 years ago. This summer, she and her family relocated to Bellingham. She recently organized a local drive to send bikes to Africa. by Katheryn Fentress Kathryn: Have you done other volunteer work before the bicycle project? [Read More...]
Trays of ballot envelopes, as they are assembled into random “batches” at the start of the process, as they arrive in the Whatcom County Auditors’ Office. by Whatcom Fair Voting Trustworthy Elections require a voting system with solid integrity, protected from tampering or corruption of the tallies of [Read More...]
Big Coal’s Gerrymandering Scheme Mostly Thwarted by Kristin Eberhard Election results are in for Whatcom County, Washington, where a proposal for a giant coal export terminal puts communities on the front lines of the fight against dirty energy. Thanks to a flood of money from coal interests, voters approved a [Read More...]
by Stoney Bird Part 17 This is the seventeenth in a continuing series of articles that began with the January, 2014 issue of Whatcom Watch. The series addresses the impediments to democracy and well being in American society. “While many mid-nineteenth-century Europeans had persuaded themselves that the wonders of modern [Read More...]
Boris Schleinkofer, poetrywatch editor “When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.” — John F. Kennedy Poetry has a voice in our community, [Read More...]
Compiled by Boris Schleinkofer Action Taken at September 28, 2015 Meeting Shall the council: 178. Grant a noise variance to the state of Washington for Interstate 5 paving and guardrail work? Construction work in residentially zoned areas between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. requires a noise variance. The work will [Read More...]
Compiled by Andrew S. McBride Action Taken at October 6, 2015 Meeting Shall the commission: 126. Authorize the modification of a lease agreement with Comcast Cable Communications for the licensing of port-owned conduit? In August 2000, the Port of Bellingham and Comcast Cable entered into a 50-year conduit license agreement [Read More...]
To celebrate the 24th year of publishing Whatcom Watch, we will be printing excerpts from 20 years ago. David M. Laws has been generous enough to volunteer to review the Whatcom Watch for 20 years ago to find suitable material to reprint. The below excerpts are from the October 1995 [Read More...]
Compiled by Barry MacHale Action Taken at September 29, 2015 Meeting Shall the council: 171. Approve a $15,000 contract (amendment #9) with Van Ness Feldman, GordonDerr of Seattle for legal representation in a Growth Management Hearings Board case? The law firm is representing the county in the various stages of [Read More...]
by Lorraine Loomis Did you know that over the past four decades the 20 treaty Indian tribes in western Washington have reduced their salmon harvests by more than 75 percent to protect the resource? That tribes have restored thousands of miles of fish and wildlife habitat? That tribal hatcheries release [Read More...]