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LETTERS TO
THE EDITOR
The Editor:
The continuance of Point Roberts as part of the U.S. generates
long lines at customs and requires busing kids all the way
to Blaine for high school.
Now some folks joke that the U.S. should give or sell Point Roberts
to Canada. Well, why not? What a wonderful gesture of international
good will it would be for the United States of America to simply
give this small piece of real estate and its 750 residents to
Canada where it logically belongs anyway.
This noble token of goodwill would be compared to France giving
the U.S. the Statue of Liberty. Now some point out that Point
Roberts is north of the 49th parallel.
So what? The U.S. got a piece of real estate north of the 49th
called Lake of the Woods which is in Minnesota but should be
in Ontario, so if we got a piece of Canada, it seems only fair
to allow Canada to absorb Point Roberts.
Peter Blood
Germantown, MD
The Editor, Dr. Mary Lynne Derrington, superintendent of the
Blaine school district and the Blaine school district board of
directors:
We have been told that you are removing grade three from our
local school here in Point Roberts. Parents were notified one
week ago.
This is a bad decision and will have devastating effects on our
community. Where was the due process: consultation with the families,
with the taxpayers?
Our community is growing. Young families have come here with
the expectation that Point Roberts primary would be there for
their children. Even now, if you reinstate grade three, you have
sowed a seed of uncertainty that will linger and cause families
to hesitate before embracing the local school.
This young school has enough challenges without being undermined
by the ill intentions of a greedy district. Many on the Point
believe that Point Roberts is subsidized by the Blaine school
district. Yes, if you simply look at the giant pot of tax dollars
you receive and then look at the cost per student of the local
school, it may look that way. However, if you look at the tax
dollars the community of Point Roberts contributes to your pot
of gold, and compare it to the number of Point Roberts students
that you teach, there is a very different story. Point Roberts
pays more than its fair share. We do understand that our taxes
are to be used for the ‘greater good’ of the district,
not just Point Roberts, we simply believe Point Roberts primary
is part of that “greater good.”
If you were good money managers you would maximize our local
resources (classrooms and teachers). You would recruit students
not currently attending our school – home schoolers and
private schoolers - enticing them with our fabulous facilities
and teachers. If it is truly reasonable and prudent to have one
teacher instruct three curriculums (K, 1 & 2), then you would
add a grade, creating a split grade three and four. This would
maximize space, census capabilities, available “Remote
and Necessary” funding, and provide a professional peer
to a lone teacher. If you were good money mangers you would look
outside of the box.
Our loss is largely intangible – and it is your loss too.
Parents become immensely limited in their ability to be involved
in their children’s education when their children are at
the Blaine campus.
If you cared about the children and families, you would involve
them in your planning. For all of the years we have been on the
Point, the major concern of the local families has been: “The
school district/ administration does not communicate with us
in a clear, complete and timely fashion – especially regarding
their plans.” When Dr. Derrington came to the district
she promised to remedy this. When it came time to put your plan
into action, you took the cowardly approach. You blindsided them
and shot them in the back. Where was your courage?
I beseech you: do your job with courage, thoughtful examination,
curious minds, honor, and compassion. I ask you to rethink your
decision - examine your rationale and your method of implementation.
This decision is still in your hands, and it is breaking our
hearts. We hope you will care.
Debbie and Arthur Wilkowski
Point Roberts
(Ed. Note: The preceding was edited for length.)
The
Editor & deputy
Rich Emmons:
Words cannot express my gratitude to you for the responsible
manner in which you handled delivering the sad news of my son
H. David Boone’s death. Your follow-up calls were welcomed
and reassuring.
Your concern was further demonstrated by your visit with us to
make certain we did not leave without having all of our questions
answered. We were not sure what to expect when we arrived in
Point Roberts, but you may be assured that law enforcement, the
neighbors and Trinity Church members were gracious and accommodating.
Again, thank you for our expression of condolence and your sensitivity
in this great loss in our family.
Claudia Eubanks
Detroit, MI
The Editor:
The Point Roberts PTO, and many representatives of our beloved
community, made a great showing at this month’s Blaine
school district board meeting. I know they heard us – now
let’s all work together to form that 10-year strategic
plan for Point Roberts that we have been asking for!
This kind of community support requires input from a great number
of people. First I would like to thank Lynne and Snyder Vick
for their generous hospitality in hosting our PTO fundraising
car wash at the Shell station on Sunday afternoon, and offering
piping hot coffee to all the brave supporters who stood in the
rain while their car was washed. Thanks a lot!
Thanks also to the various community members who brought their
concerns to the Blaine school district board meeting. I can’t
begin to describe the passion and warmth and true “family” feeling
that permeated the room as we implored the board members to reconsider
their recent decision to remove one teacher and one grade level,
leaving one teacher to cope with instructing three very different
curriculums to our little ones. Thank you everyone – I
am so proud to be associated with you and this loving community.
To the PTO members – thanks! Your signs, your time, your
efforts and your enthusiasm – wow, what a group! You’re
the best!
Thanks to Henry Rosenthal for driving the WTA van – your
arrival put us at over 60 participants at our peaceful rally
and we deeply thank you for taking on that task amid the Canadian
holiday and the incredible border lineups and traffic associated
with that.
Thanks also to the media who showed an interest in our story – we
greatly appreciate that you feel the importance of this story
as we do.
And lastly, thank you to the board members, Barrie Hull, Mike
Dodd, Pebble Griffith, James (Red) Goodwin, Todd Berge and superintendent
Mary Lynne Derrington for hearing us, for considering our requests,
and for permitting us to take our time in formulating our emotional
pleas to the board. We understand the extraordinary task you
take on for the entire district and we look forward to working
with you to formulate a strategic educational plan for Point
Roberts, as part of the Blaine school district family.
Linda Hughes
Point Roberts
The Editor:
Following my letter to the editor rant on alleged wetlands it
was nice to read the responses from the Point Roberts mosquito
breeders.
The apologist for the planning department says they are not declaring
properties as wetlands out of the blue. Go tell that to the owners
of the 40 acres at the 1700 block of APA Road. When the proposed
racetrack had the land under option three years ago, the county
intervened and declared 28 of the 40 acres wetlands.
Tell it to the fellow who recently purchased the property north
of the Sterling Bank and got half of his land recently declared
wetlands. Tell it to the marina. Simply improperly drained land
is now being declared wetlands and it’s a county run rip-off
of property owners’ land value. Give them back all of their
past taxes if you are not going to let them use their lands.
Be even more responsible, step up and purchase it at the market
value it held before you declared it wetlands.
Now on to the other two Calder critics who have me responsible
for there being no more seagulls or fish in Europe and for me
trying to make a profit. Our family members arrived at Point
Roberts in 1893 and have owned and improved properties continuously
ever since. Now we find the ones that arrived here in 1993 giving
us the history of Point Roberts. I don’t know how we ever
survived for that first 100 years without them.
I currently own and live on 10 acres with over 200 mature trees
and not one square inch of pavement. I compare that to my critics
residing on 50-foot lots with no trees and can’t help but
respond, hypocrite.
If you want to save alleged wetlands or trees, go purchase the
land the way some of the rest of us do.
What is it that you interventionists don’t understand about
leading by example and minding your own business?
It seems my detractors want to change this area into the People’s
Republic of Point Roberts.
Brian Calder
Point Roberts
The Editor:
I would like to send a note of heartfelt thanks for all the community
support we have received in response to the recent school board
decision to eliminate grade three and a teacher at the Point
Roberts campus.
At the school board meeting on Monday, May 23, we had a huge
turnout of parents, kids, business owners and community members
speaking out in support of our campus. The primary school provides
such a great foundation to the kids to prepare them for their
transition to the Blaine campus! Eliminating a grade, a teacher
and expecting one teacher to handle three curriculums is unrealistic
for any campus and will certainly affect the quality of education
currently provided to our young children.
I would like to point out that this local school has been a fabulous
start for both my children. The teachers have been tremendous;
the kids enjoy school and are doing well academically. I am truly
hoping that all of the great support we have had will impact
the board’s decision. We can work with them on a strategy,
and we can look forward to new generations of Point kids getting
that great start here!
Anyone hearing about this issue for the first time, or to anyone
simply interested in becoming involved, our PTO meets the third
Tuesday of each month (next meeting is June 21) at the community
center.
Elaine Komusi
Point Roberts
The Editor:
I wanted to share my experience with having work done on my house.
I had heard horror stories about how long it takes to get things
done on the Point, so I was prepared for a long, all summer
long process.
I contacted Al Perritt of Al’s Construction the end of
March to have some major work done on my house. He had done previous
work for me when I bought my house, the back deck was a little
shaky, literally. It is now on 6 x 6 supports and safe. I wanted
new siding, front and side decks, gutters, soffits, a new window
in the bathroom – well, you get the drift. He started work
mid-April, the major construction on the siding was done in two
weeks. He and Terry worked long days and worked from the moment
they arrived and put in a full day’s work. I couldn’t
have been happier. Clean up after the fact was complete and nicely
done. I will be using Al for other major projects I have around
the house over the next few years. A very special thank you to
Al and Terry.
Al contacted all outside workers, for gutters, and painting and
electrical. Thanks to Hugh Wilson and Heather who did the majority
of painting on the house, after a couple of blips in the process,
the job is done and looks fabulous. Thanks go out to Steve Dyde
for the gutters and Kevin and his crew at Leading Edge for new
and improved lighting.
Thanks to Al, Terry, Hugh, Heather, Steve and Kevin, my vision
for a pretty blue house is a reality. I couldn’t be more
pleased with the results. Instead of an all summer long process,
it was done in five weeks, and this with record rain in May.
Thanks to all of them and their great work, I will now be spending
the rest of the summer gardening around my pretty new house.
Jessica McVey
Point Roberts
The Editor:
The loss of grade three at the Point Roberts primary school is
a concern to all of our community. Our daughter will graduate
from grade three this year and will attend Blaine in September.
She has experienced an ideal learning environment in the four
years at the Point Roberts school. Her entire class has
performed well above average in national tests. This is
a tribute to the quality of education that Point Roberts primary
has offered the children of this community. We feel our
daughter is now well prepared for the transition to Blaine.
Our son is starting kindergarten at Point Roberts in September.
With the removal of grade three and only one teacher for the
K-2 curricula, our confidence in the school has eroded significantly.
We feel his early education is being compromised in order to
save the Blaine school district a few dollars. Point Roberts
has a long history of producing excellent students and leading
members of the community. Many of the kids from Point Roberts
have been class valedictorians in their senior years at Blaine.
The latest policy from the Blaine school district is threatening
to put an end to our great little school. Many parents who were
going to send their kids to school here are now considering other
options. This is the beginning of the end unless we can convince
the board to reconsider their decision.
There are alternatives that need to be explored through open
communication. It is our hope that the parent teacher organization
can meet with the board and find a solution that will ensure
the long-term viability of Point Roberts primary school.
Jim and Pam Sarkissian
Point Roberts
The Editor:
On Wednesday May 4, the Point Roberts Pirates ice hockey team
defeated the X-Men of Richmond by a score of 5 – 4 in the
fourth game of the division final and took the final series three
games to one. This ended our first season as a team.
The team would like to thank our captain and team manager, Pete
Vaughan-Jones for making this season a reality and a success.
Pete got everyone together; arranged for three practices at the
beginning of the season; took care of getting our team uniforms;
emailed schedule changes and made sure that everyone knew when
and where the games were.
It was a slow start, with fewer wins than losses, but by mid
season we were approaching respectability in the league. We certainly
had the lead in the penalties column! By the end of the regular
season just prior to the playoffs, we were a force to be reckoned
with! During the playoffs, we played extremely well as a team,
and only lost two games out of nine.
Our game times were not the greatest, and this made it difficult
to garner much fan support, but when the times were reasonable,
it was great to see friends and family in the stands to cheer
us on. To our families, who supported our addiction to the game
and helped mend aches and pains, we thank you, and hope that
you will understand that come September we plan to do it all
over again.
The team included: Pete Vaughan-Jones; Paul Rusk, Lorne Nielson,
Bud Lawlor, Doug (Stumpy) Shier, Gary Nissen, Mike Szabo, Greg
Heppner, Greg Williams, Ron Hughes, Alan Richards, Jason McDougall,
David Gellatly, Mike Cressy, Lee Glass, Vance Burberry, Phil
Lipton, Kirk Holifield, Cash Sylvester, JP Haramboure, Kevin
Fahr, Dave Espley, Eric Krause.
David Gellatly
Point Roberts
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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