LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Whatcom County Council & the Editor
It has come to our attention that the county council intends to implement an increased day-use fee for non-resident users of Lighthouse Park in Point Roberts.
Unfortunately, this action would have a very significant adverse effect of the economic health of our small rural community. As you know, “Point Roberts, USA,” is an important recreation destination for our Canadian neighbors and Canadian tourism is the main driving force of our economy.
At a time when Point Roberts is already experiencing reduced border crossing due to homeland security measures, we do not need the additional burden of day-use fees that would further discourage visitors. The county’s action in this regard would be at cross-purposes with rural economic development plans of long standing.
As a practical matter, the question arises, “How much of the fee would go to cover the administrative/labor cost of collecting it?” We also wonder if the fees collected would offset the sales tax lost because someone using the facility happens to be a non-resident. On this last point, it is interesting to note that our Canadian neighbors have no such non-resident fee for their parks.
We ask that you please re-consider this fee or eliminate it, if at all possible.
Tod T. Manrell, chair, Point Roberts
Economic Development Committee
Point Roberts

The Editor:
If I follow Mr. Calder’s argument, ducks, eagles, herons, fish, foreshore and native history are all to be sacrificed to the bottom line. Mr. Calder also seems to think sewer regulations and building safety standards are just a nuisance and stand in the way of development (read profit).
Most of the world doesn’t have the beauty and nature that exists here in Point Roberts. Try to see a heron, duck, eagle or seal in Europe. It’s nearly impossible. That’s why tourists come to see what we have in the Pacific Northwest.
If you go to Greece, Turkey or Italy you have trouble even finding a seagull because fish hardly exist. If Mr. Calder and his ilk have it their way, the Georgia Strait will become as dead as the Mediterranean Sea.
I suggest Mr. Calder adopts singer Joni Mitchell’s lyrics as his personal theme song “pave paradise and put up a parking lot.”
Larry Talson
Point Roberts

The Editor:
You will all be pleased to know that the WTA has changed its mind and has decided to continue the Safety Net Service to Point Roberts.
This means the “Dial-A-Ride” service to the Point will continue to drive people who make their reservations at least 24 hours in advance for the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month. The Safety Net bus is ADA accessible, and can accommodate all the special needs of Point Roberts commuters. I am so glad the WTA made this change to their long range strategic plan!
The Blue Heron Express, the Point Roberts community van, continues as the volunteer service to serve our community. The Blue Heron Express is a more flexible service that serves our high school students, seniors, and all others who want to shop, do business, or simply travel from or to Point Roberts and other areas within Whatcom County.
Remember to book your seat on the Blue Heron Express call the van reservation line at 945-2844. Please give us at least 48 hours notice. If you have an emergency, you can try calling my cell phone 360/305-4769, and I will see if a driver can be found. This is a volunteer service provided free to the community, and all the drivers, and the program coordinator, volunteer their time.
Our stats are up and we are looking better than ever! If you would like to volunteer to be a driver for the community, please call either number given above. If you need a ride do the same. We live in paradise here, let’s take advantage of it!
Good will and love to all,
Cheryl Fitzgerald, Blue Heron Express
Point Roberts

The Editor:
Washington state requires that the Point Refuse and Recycling collect regularly segregated materials for recycling. The state set the price at $5.21 per month per residence.
Criticism of the recycling charges that are inequitable and uneconomic:
The surcharge of $5.21 per month per customer is inequitable.
The following comparison of the cost per pound for garbage pickup:
12 – 30 lb. cans/year @ $6/month – $0.20/lb.
52 – 30 lb. cans/year @ $21.81/ month – 0.17/lb.
12 recycle pickups/year of 10 lbs. each @ $5.21/month – 0.52/lb.
52 recycle pickups of 10 lbs. each @ $5.21/month – $0.12/lb.
Note: I live alone and have found that on average I need one 30 lb. can a month and have 10 lbs. of recycled waste (a third of the 30 lb. can) costing me $0.52 lb. Based on this ratio, a household requiring 52 cans/ year only pays $0.12/lb. which is $0.05 less than they pay for household waste.
Economically recycling cannot be justified.
The fact that each household has to subsidize recycling at $5.21/month can only mean that program loses money and that the fuel expended picking it up is wasted. State wide this subsidy approaches $40,000,000. Recycling of materials is only justified if the money generated covers all costs associated with program. Each county should issue an auditable profit and loss statement annually for the recycling program.
Not only is recycling operating at a loss, it also expends our most precious not recoverable resource oil and adds unnecessarily to the green house gases.
Those items in the waste stream that can be recycled economically were in the past collected by private enterprise, for example, Reynolds recycled aluminum.
Write to your state representative objecting to this inequitable and uneconomic state program.
Syd Wallace
Point Roberts

The Editor:
A poem for the newspaper.
What?
What wetlands?
What tidelands?
What fruit trees?
What farmland?
What watershed?
What air to breathe?
What songbirds?
What honeybees?
What heron’s nest?
What waterfowl?
Who needs eagles, hawks and owls?
What salmon run?
What crystal streams?
What little kids with future dreams?
What grass?
What wildflowers?
What clover?
Just haul in gravel and pave it over.
Who gives a damn if nature tanks.
I got money in the bank.
What neighborhood?
What’s mine is mine.
My only care is the bottom line.
George Wright
Point Roberts

The Editor:
In reply to Jim Marshall’s letter in the April All Point Bulletin, he is of the opinion that Mr. Craddock is providing a service with his tin buildings at 481 Georgia Way. Mr. Marshall is obviously convinced that Mr. Craddock shines of greatness, sparkles of genius with intelligence that is unsurpassed in the history of mankind. However, said buildings on Georgia Way are zoned as parking garages, not for personal storage. Questions can be answered by calling the Whatcom County Planning and Development Services office at 360/676-6907; fax, 360/738-2525; inspectors, 360/738-2520.
As for Mr. Marshall’s problem of getting his household treasures back into Canada, and being denied entry into Canada by Canadian Customs, the answer is simple. Next time, just tell the officer in charge that said treasures are going to the Delta Recyclers on River Road. Problem solved. Good luck.
Al Carver
Point Roberts

The Editor:
The claim by land consultant Brian Calder that there are no wetlands in Point Roberts (letters to the editor April APB) is off the mark. There are a number of natural wetland areas in Point Roberts. These areas are well documented in county and state surveys, maps and aerial photographs that date back to the 1960s. Information on wetlands, shorelines and other items of interest can be accessed at www.co.whatcom.wa.us/pds/index.
The rumor that the county will arbitrarily classify that clogged ditch or stagnant mud puddle on your property as a wetland is untrue.
The ordinance defining “wetland” specifically states that, “Wetlands do not include those artificial wetlands intentionally created from non-wetland sites, including but not limited to irrigation and drainage ditches, grass-lined swales, canals, detention facilities, retention facilities, wastewater treatment facilities, farm ponds, and landscape amenities or those wetlands created after July 1, 1990 that were unintentionally created as a result of the construction of a road, street or highway.” The county definition of “wetland” is virtually identical to the Washington state definition that has been on the books for years.
Wetlands are recognized as valuable environmental and economic resources in Whatcom County. They control flooding by acting as reservoirs for incoming stormwater and assist in stabilizing shoreline areas. Wetlands can improve water quality by filtering contaminants and recharging groundwater. It makes good economic sense to preserve the functions that nature provides for free, rather than spending taxpayer’s money for expensive public works projects to manage our continuing stormwater and erosion problems resulting from decades of poor environmental stewardship.
A good example of the negative effects of wetland filling can be seen on the five acres east of Marine Drive across from the Breakers. Years ago, this area was a wetland. It provided, among other things, a reservoir for stormwater and natural drainage for the higher elevations north of Gulf Road. Over the years, the acreage was filled with soil and construction debris, irreversibly altering every natural function a wetland can provide. The result is a parcel of land with diminished value and a burden on surrounding landowners with failing septic systems because the filled area is now higher than their drainfields.
Wetland protection can provide economic and environmental benefits for Point Roberts. It’s time we recognized our wetlands for their worth, rather than denying their existence.
John Lesow
Point Roberts

The Editor:
We wanted to thank the volunteers and children of Point Roberts for building Phase I of the skatepark. The kids are grateful to all of you who came out and worked in the rain. To quote 10-year-old Robbie Gault, “It was a great day for our town.”
Donations for Phase II can be made at Sterling Bank or the Dockside Café.
Mark & Helena Furno
Point Roberts

A letter from founding publisher and editor Glennys Christie

Congratulations on bringing the All Point Bulletin to its 20th anniversary! I am gratified that you picked up where I left off in 1991 and that the APB continues to serve Point Roberts and your wider readership. I never could have imagined, in 1985 (with potential competitors coming out of the woodwork and a rather widespread ignorance, on the part of certain elected bodies, of the public’s right to know, enshrined in stirring terms in Washington State law) that the newspaper would endure, let alone flourish.
It was clear in 1985, when I viewed Point Roberts in the context of Whatcom County, that county government had very little interest in or knowledge of the problems unique to Point Roberts. They all too often relied on anecdotal and unsubstantiated input from local individuals.
I therefore determined, from the earliest days of the APB, that I would attend and report on every county council meeting in Bellingham, in addition to every major planning commission or court case that had local impact. I was first greeted in this arena with puzzlement, then acceptance. I like to think that this early decision did serve notice on the county that Point Roberts was not beneath notice. Coverage of local district meetings, with the ubiquitous tape recorder, also presented early challenges but great rewards, I believe, for this allowed the public to become more aware of and therefore active in the decision-making processes that affected their lives.
I like to think of that early APB as a plucky little paper and I am so glad to see it come of age, since 20 is a good solid number and time has surely moved on. Part of my heart is buried in the Point Roberts cemetery, so I will always come back to the Point now and then; meanwhile, much exists in memory of those early and beautiful days of quail and deer and forests and herons. And a little newspaper.
In case there is any mystery to the naming of the APB: when my daughter, A.V. Christie, then a college student, now a fine poet, first came to Point Roberts, she said, “Mom, if you ever start a newspaper here, you should call it the All Point Bulletin.” So I did.

Letters Policy
The All Point Bulletin welcomes letters to the editor; however, the opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the editor. Letters must include name, address and daytime telephone number for verification. Letters must not exceed 450 words and may be edited or rejected for reasons of legality and good taste.
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.
Thank You letters should be limited to ten names.
Only one letter per month from an individual correspondent will be published.

Please send your letter to: P.O. Box 1451, Point Roberts, WA 98281
or fax (360) 945-1613.
E-mail:editor@allpointbulletin.com

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