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TMDL CULTURAL AND NATURAL IMPACTS

June 7 letter to Washington Department of Ecology: The Wikipedia article Blaine, Washington notes the Semiahmoo people are a portion of the ancestry of Lummi Nation who occupied Semiahmoo Spit as well as the mouth of Dakota and California Creeks on Drayton Harbor for 4,500 years, until being forced to leave by the Alaska Packers Association, which usurped their village site for a salmon cannery. Alaska Packers salmon traps ended the Semiahmoo reef-netting industry at Point Roberts. The present day Semiahmoo Indian Reserve is adjacent to White Rock, British Columbia. The Drayton Harbor TMDL clean up plan should acknowledge the extensive archeological artifacts of the watershed, as well as the current cultural and natural resources of Lummi Nation, that are impaired by human fecal bacteria pollution--presumably from the mismanagement of sewer and stormwater systems by the City of Blaine, which is consistent with the findings of failing sewers on Cain Creek--a Drayton Harbor tributary, ...
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VANISHING FAIRNESS

Part Two of Vanishing Science, Vanishing Fairness is now online in the June issue of Whatcom Watch . Learn how Blaine's hearing examiner Phil Olbrechts does ethnic cleansing of the public record for the benefit of his employer, the City of Blaine, and their bosses in the form of real estate developers.
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ALTERING THE PUBLIC RECORD

March 13, 2025 Blaine Planning Commission held an Urban Mixed Use rezone hearing for properties on Dakota Creek and Drayton Harbor, a federally-protected estuary. Meeting minutes must include public comments, statements by officials, and deliberations. March 13- April 28, 2025 Blaine Community Development Services director Alex Wenger omitted all substantive public comments and his commitment to using the most current stormwater management manual from the record. (Only two public comments were received, from Otto Pointer and Jay Taber.) The misleading document is then signed by planning commission chair, Calvin Armerding. April 28, 2025 Based on the misleading recommendation document, Blaine City Council passed Ordinance 25-3028 adopting the Urban Mixed Use rezone. The final ordinance omits critical stormwater requirements and critical area protections that were unlawfully purged by Director Wenger from the record.  Director Wenger's role was not merely administrative; he was th...
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CONTEXT OF BLAINE RETALIATORY POLICING

June 6 letter to Washington Criminal Justice Training Commission: Dear Ms. Avaava, As Washington Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) investigator of my certification complaints against Blaine and Ferndale police officers for retaliatory policing, I thought you might benefit from knowing me as a person, rather than just a name on a form. I have been an open government activist for 35 years, and retaliatory policing is unconstitutional. You also need to know the political context within which Blaine Police Department was used by the city to intimidate and defame critics of the mayor, city manager, development director, and hearing examiner--which function as a cabal at city hall. In Blaine, citizens are now fearful of sharing their ideas. Our local newspaper vilified open government activists opposing municipal corruption, so fear is to be expected. We are not yet a police state in Washington, but in Blaine we are. Allowing this civil rights nightmare to continue by exonerating r...
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