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COMEDY OF ERRORS

The nearly $6 million sewer expansion to serve East Blaine residential development was a waste, given the Blaine voters decision to remove 573 acres of the East Blaine Urban Growth Area from the city last November. These 573 acres, located over the Critical Aquifer Recharge Area (CARA) for Blaine and Birch Bay's drinking water, would require approximately $14 million for pipeline and pumping infrastructure , making it economically unviable. Allowing private wells and septic systems over the CARA, however, could lead to contamination of our drinking water. Pollution removal from an aquifer can cost well over $100 million , leading to astronomical utility bills for Blaine and Birch Bay customers. An alternative to this comedy of errors is for Whatcom County to establish a CARA Protection District , placing this property in public hands, for public benefit. Seattle allows no development in its drinking watershed, saving utility customers and protecting public health. For some reason,...
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SELF-DEALING SILENCE

Six weeks into her reign as publisher of The Northern Light, Kari Mar has yet to say one word about the self-dealing Blaine officials Mike Hill and Gurdeep Bains committed in the unlawful 2024 Central Business District land use rezones to decrease parking requirements and increase building heights. The public hearing on an Interim Zoning Control Ordinance for the Central Business District  regarding parking requirements and building heights is on the Blaine City Council agenda for tomorrow night. As usual, The Northern Light provides no useful information.  Read more about self-dealing by Mike Hill and Gurdeep Bains here .
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SAME OLD NORTHERN LIGHT

When will The Northern Light new publisher Kari Mar apologize to the open government activists her newspaper defamed and to the readers her paper misled for the last three years as The Northern Light helped the real estate industry take over city government and end the rule of law in Blaine? Before or after her fundraising campaign in which she repeatedly praises the former publisher, Pat Grubb?  
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FULL FRONTAL FASCISM

The full frontal fascism of the Steward regime 2023-25 was all made possible with the collaboration of The Northern Light newspaper. Without The Northern Light echoing city propaganda and covering up crimes at city hall, Mayor Mary Lou Steward and Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon would have faced prosecution long ago. Their longevity is directly attributable to The Northern Light coverup.
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OPEN GOVERNMENT

Open government is about transparency and accountability. Access to public records in a free user-friendly online format with a functional search engine allows the public to know what their government is up to, and to hold their government accountable when it strays from the straight and narrow path of the Ethics in Public Service Act.  Open government is also about facilitating meaningful public participation in planning our community's future, and welcoming citizen oversight through such bodies as an ethics commission elected by the voters. None of this has happened in Blaine. To the contrary, ethics violations by Blaine officials Mike Hill, Sam Randhawa, and Gurdeep Bains propelled our city to close government. Blaine citizens concerned about the loss of open government in our city can contact the Washington State Auditor Special Investigations Unit: kelly.collins@sao.wa.gov  sadie.armijo@sao.wa.gov  pat.mccarthy@sao.wa.gov
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A PIVOTAL MOMENT

In her March 6 pitch for support of The Northern Light , the new publisher Kari Mar says towns without newspapers have lower civic participation and transparency in government. That may be true elsewhere, but not in Blaine. Had Mar done her homework, she would have discovered that her paper was largely responsible for lower civic participation and transparency in government.  Mar says that without a newspaper, "misinformation spreads more easily." Unfortunately, in Blaine, The Northern Light has been the source of misinformation. An examination of Northern Light bias 2023-25 is now taking place on social media. 
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BLAINE CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE

It only took Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon three years to turn the City of Blaine into a criminal enterprise, with rogue police intimidating Blaine citizens opposed to self-dealing by Blaine officials.  With Whatcom County and soon Washington State coming down on Blaine over planning and policing, Mike Harmon's departure comes closer.  It will be interesting to see who falls first--Chief of Police Rodger Funk, Harmon, or development director Alex Wenger.  There's a good chance none of them will be Blaine employees a year from now.
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