Blaine Confidential

Washington Attorney General Ferguson joins federal lawsuit against Meta --parent company of Facebook and Instagram--for intentionally harming the mental health of youth.

Big oil is at it again in Whatcom County. A Political Action Committee just disclosed $40,000 in last-minute payments to a Texas-based political consulting firm called Majority Strategies. The money bought mailers that will be delivered this week to tens of thousands of people in Whatcom County, supporting Republican-backed candidate Hannah Ordos.  With some of the largest refineries in the region in Whatcom County, it's not a surprise that oil money is involved. This is going to be a close race and will likely be the balance of power on our County Council. Stand with Ordos's opponent, Jon Scanlon against the dark-money and oil-interests trying to buy our community.  It's disappointing that this PAC would try to buy favor with dark money at the last minute. But we've seen them do this before. Whatcom County Council is often on the front line of environmental progress and in past elections coal, oil and other fossil fuel industries have weighed in with last-minute, well-

When malicious harassment in the form of Christian Patriot militias broke out in the Pacific Northwest, a group of researchers and organizers* collaborated to defend democracy. Their work from 1992-1997 prevented a repeat in Washington of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing by Christian Patriots that claimed 168 lives. Key organizers standing up against racist vigilantes included Rudy Ryser, Bill Wassmuth (Idaho) and Eric Ward. Key researchers included Ken Toole (Montana), Paul de Armond (Washington), Tarso Ramos (Oregon), Leonard Zeskind, Steven Gardiner, Charles Tanner and Devin Burghart. Private investigator Sheila O'Donnell, Daniel Junas and I lent a hand. *Organizations included Center for World Indigenous Studies, Coalition for Human Dignity, Montana Human Rights Network, Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment, Public Good Project, and Western States Center.

From 2005-2017, I was a contributing editor of Fourth World Journal (FWJ), an academic publication of the Center for World Indigenous Studies in Olympia WA. Two of my FWJ essays are: THE PUBLIC HEALTH MODEL: DEMOCRATIC COMMUNITY ORGANIZING   (2011) 22 pgs. INSTITUTIONAL MEMORY AS COMMUNITY SAFEGUARD   (2006) 12 pgs. 

The main culprit in the Cain Creek tree death due to English Ivy invasion appears to be the adjacent U.S. Post Office which apparently planted the ivy as ground cover around the building. Removing the ivy from the post office and the remaining Cain Creek evergreens--that form a backdrop to the civic center--is a good volunteer project. Since Cain Creek is the only greenway in Blaine, maybe someone will start a Friends of Cain Creek.

Thirty years ago, Washington Department of Ecology (DOE) initiated a water resources inventory of the Nooksack basin. Simultaneously, DOE facilitated roundtable discussions including caucuses of farmers, water resource providers, the construction industry, and environmentalists. I was selected to represent the environmental caucus. With the Nooksack river Chinook salmon threatened with extinction, there was a sense of urgency to our work.  Hovering around the roundtable process were professional troublemakers looking for an opportunity to make money drumming up resentment against the tribes. Water rights law is "first in time, first in line." Since Lummi Nation and the Nooksack Tribe have been here for 500 generations, they are by far the senior water rights holders. Treaty rights under federal law are considered property rights. The salmon are the tribes' property. Local media at the time was beholden to the real estate industry due to advertising revenue and attacked bo

Blaine School Board candidate (and bigot)  Cliff Freeman  in his own words: Parents have the number 1 responsibility for their kids. It is your duty to know and affect what’s being taught to your kids. I strongly support career and technical education (CTE), an area where our district is headed in the right direction. We have many excellent teachers and administrators in Blaine, and I support rewarding excellence. Schools are being pressured by divisive radical and woke ideology.  Schools are not a laboratory for social experiments, and kids are not guinea pigs. We must take a stand against this irrational thinking: there are only 2 genders, girls’ sports are for girls (not boys) and drag queen story hour is not appropriate in our schools. Let’s refocus education on the basics and prepare our students for success.  This is our solemn obligation to the next generation. My picks for Blaine School Board: Erika Creydt, Ben Lazarus, Jefferey Carrington, Derrick Bovenkamp

The  partisan school boards article  at Cascadia Daily News noted the Common Threads Northwest forum served as a rally for bigotry (my paraphrase) but did not reveal that Common Threads is the successor to Whatcom Tea Party, which did the name change after the Tea Party became equated with racism in the media. My article On a Mission from God details the transition.

When Whatcom County Library System held public meetings at Blaine Community Center to gather input on the design of our new library, I said that Blaine teens are desperate for a creative outlet after school. There is nothing for them to do in Blaine, and graffiti is just beginning to appear downtown. A community art center would address that need, but in the meantime a space in the new library design for teens to do art and cooperative projects to be put on public display in the exhibition areas would give them both an outlet and recognition. By channeling their creative spirit into positive community contributions, we help create good citizens.