LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Editor:
I would like to share with your readership a little experience with Australia. Australia is a very dry country. They have suffered through many years of drought and still all who live there have adequate water supply one way or another.
Millions of homes are fed from water caught off of their roofs! When it does happen to rain, the water is drained from the roof of their home into large tanks. (Something like 1,000 or 2,000 gallon tanks.) The water is virtually rain pure and can be further purified with the slightest addition of hydrogen peroxide.
Toilets, showers, and kitchens are all supplied in this way and in the rare event when the house might run out of water, a truck full is ordered in at a nominal rate.
Now that the water district apparently cannot supply adequate water hook-ups, that is no fault of the populace! In this rainy country, there should be no shortage of water for even the most water hungry of homes. The simple addition of a pump and a tank can alleviate this dependency on policy makers who cannot make adequate working policy.
It is not an adequate reason to stop building permits from going ahead.
Ken Fortt
Point Roberts

The Editor:
The January edition of your paper reported that incumbent county council member Seth Fleetwood defeated Gary Lysne by just 45 ballots out of over 54,000 votes cast.
In fact, Fleetwood’s margin was 945 votes.
The certified election results for Point Roberts (precinct 101) present a political snapshot of community attitudes.
Environmental candidates Laurie-Caskey Schreiber, Seth Fleetwood and Carl Weimer outpolled their opponents by a 2-1 margin in Point Roberts – by far the largest plurality of any Whatcom County precinct.
Point Roberts supported the charter amendment on district only voting by a three to one margin. Again, a significant margin compared to the rest of Whatcom County.
Voter turnout in Point Roberts was 51 percent, 381 voters cast ballots out of a total of 749 registered voters. In terms of turnout for the 261 county precincts, Point Roberts ranked 12th from the bottom. The average voter turnout in Whatcom County was 62 percent.
John Lesow
Point Roberts

The Editor:
On December 31, 2005 I suffered a serious fall at my residence on the Point. My neighbors were quick to call for medical assistance before the severity of my injuries were completely known. While in a painful condition, I did not feel that I suffered any broken bones or injuries requiring hospitalization but before the call to 911 could be canceled the response team had arrived.
The time frame could not have been more than 10 minutes. I was very impressed, as were my friends, with the speed and professionalism exhibited by my unexpected visitors. They were very courteous and caring and despite my insistence that I had only suffered minor injuries they insisted on giving me a thorough examination to determine that I was correct. Ten minutes later, with a pleasant Happy New Year wish, they departed to deal with their next situation or return to their “on-call /volunteer” status.
I am embarrassed to say that I don’t even remember any names!
What a comfort it is to know that we have such a reliable and invaluable service available to us here on the Point.
And to think, these professionals are volunteers. Well done guys, and thank you so much for being there.
Robert J. Milne
Vancouver & Point Roberts

The Editor:
A freak automobile accident in Manitoba, Canada on January 2 spared son and daughter-in-law, but claimed the life of 89-year-old Point Roberts resident, H. Bud Siewert. There will be more on his life (and sudden passing on January 3), to come in the March issue. He returns home in mid-March for a wake and interment beside wife Barbara who predeceased him in 1998.
(And ever near us though unseen, the dear immortal spirits tread; for all the boundless universe is life – there are no dead.)
Ron Siewert
Winnipeg, Manitoba

The Editor:
This letter is an invitation to those seven out of 10 voters who voted for freedom, democracy and justice some 15 months ago to participate in grass-roots democracy by attending the 2006 Point Roberts Democratic Party caucus to be held Saturday, March 4, at the Point Roberts Community Center on Gulf Road at 2 p.m.
Your attendance and participation in that caucus can be a catalyst for change to prevent the crowning of King George, which in my opinion of what will happen if the Republicans win big or even maintain their current majority in Congress. We need also to improve the standing of the Democratic Party in the state legislature by replacing incumbent Republican legislators – senate and house – with people devoted to peace, freedom and the Constitution of the United States of America.
As of 1:45 p.m. PST on Monday, January 16, the estimated national debt of the U.S. was in excess of eight trillion, that’s trillion with a “T.” The estimated population of the United States is 298,268,065 so each citizen’s share of this debt is $27,425.27, and it is increasing with no end in sight and if the man who does what God tells him to do has his way come this November there will never be an end to it or even a reversal of it.
Early in 2004 I wrote to the All Point Bulletin warning of the consequences of re-electing the president and some person responded the following issue suggesting I was in a parallel universe for bad-mouthing our “fearless leader,” who is only fearless when he is talking about the lives of other Americans (as of the last count no member of the current administration, or Congress, or the judiciary is currently serving in the U.S. armed forces).
I would suggest that this person to whom I cannot refer to as “he” or “she” since the signature was almost certainly a fictitious one as the name was not in the local telephone directory or on the list of registered voters on the Point and yet he or she identified him/herself as a Point resident, so who is really the citizen of the parallel universe?
My points were apparently well taken since the election results in November 2004 showed 67 percent of voters in Point Roberts who marked their ballots for any presidential candidate voted for John Kerry. If you discount the fringe candidates the result was 70 percent! So who is living in the parallel universe?
Ted Mohr
Point Roberts

The Editor:
The kafuffle continues over Washington’s proposed border crossing requirements. At first insisting everyone would have to carry a passport, the U.S. government now suggests an ID card may be required.
Even this less-stringent requirement would be a huge blow to Point Roberts. Business from Canadians would drop dramatically, and even school children heading to classes in Blaine would be impacted.
As long as the Point dangles like an isolated island in the Gulf of Georgia, the economy and the freedom of local residents will hang in the balance. At present, Point Roberts is in the untenable situation of being cut off from both the U.S. and Canada, forced to fend for itself.
While Boundary Bay is an unchangeable fact of geography, the border is not. The Point may not be physically linked to the rest of Whatcom County, but it is attached to Canada.
Let’s do away with the Point Roberts section of the border, and the resulting hassles and delays experienced by citizens on both sides. As Canadians we would gladly welcome our Point neighbors into our national community.
The benefits for Point Roberts would be immense. School children would no longer face four border crossings on their daily commute. A proper sewage system could be installed.
Point Bob residents might worry that their taxes would increase, but that’s highly unlikely. Some years ago Manitoba offered residents of Minnesota’s northwest angle the chance to join their province, and offered to waive provincial taxes. A Point Roberts exempted from sales and income taxes would be a boon to local residents.
I love Point Roberts. I always have and I always will. It’s high time that this beautiful part of Canada came home.
Christopher McDonald
Spruce Grove, Alberta

The Editor:
Ben Franklin once said: “Those who would give up essential liberty for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Everyone in Point Roberts must take notice of the North American Cooperative Security Act (S.853 & H.R.2672) currently pending in the U.S. Congress, and must work to kill this dangerous piece of legislation which despite its deceptive title, is not in any of our best interests.
The bill would create a common security perimeter around Canada, the USA and Mexico; effectively dissolving the borders between the three nations, creating an equivalent to the European Union dictatorship – which would be known as the North American Union.
The ruling elite collectivists who oppose individual rights and who are pushing this monstrous legislation are being scripted by a Council on Foreign Relations white paper titled, “Building a North American Community.”
In 2005, (with zero input from the citizens of Canada, the USA, or Mexico) – Martin, Bush, and Fox had a meeting on Bush’s ranch in Texas where they did the bidding of their shadow government masters by signing a monstrosity called “The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.” This initiative began a process of harmonizing the laws between the three countries, and is reflected in this FDA website http://www.fda.gov/oia/charter.html which announces the “Trilateral Cooperation Charter” between the FDA and their counterparts in Canada and Mexico. This initiative threatens to destroy consumer access to vitamins and minerals within the therapeutic range, harmonizing all three countries laws to restrictive measures currently under “development” by the UN’s Codex Alimentarious Commission.
Thus we see that in the name of “defending us from terrorists” our would be globalist masters already beginning a process of forcing us into a planned North American Union despite the fact that congress has not (yet) rammed the North American Cooperative Security Act down our throats. This is being done for societal control purposes.
I urge everyone to go to www .then hf.com/national_health_federation_january2006_NACSA_pr.htm from which you can take action against this bill, and I urge you to email the link to everyone you know in both the U.S. and Canada. If you aren’t online, please call congressman Larsen and senators Cantwell and Murray and urge them to vigorously oppose this legislation. If you are Canadian, please get in touch with the Canadian Action Party http://www.canadianactionparty.ca/ which opposes this sovereignty destroying initiative.
John C. Hammell, president,
International Advocates for Health
Freedom
Point Roberts

The Editor:
The Arts Foundation is starting a music school to provide free music lessons to the local community. The lessons will start Wednesday, February 8 and will run weekly at Point Roberts Trinity Lutheran Church. There will be six instructors available. Guitar, mandolin, voice, kit drums, hand drums, percussion, some horns (sax), piano, organ and synthesizer will be provided and can be signed out. Children’s classes start at 6:30 until 7:30 p.m. and teens and adults are 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. until May.
To register, call me at 945-1792. The Arts Foundation is a non-profit, public charity supported by tax deductible donations and is always in need of more support.
Craig Jacks
Point Roberts

The Editor:
I attended the town meeting on January 19 at the community center. After some thought, I have come up with solutions to each of the problems raised. There should be one speed bump in Point Roberts and it should be in front of my house. The speed limit in front of my house should be 10 miles per hour and everywhere else it should be 50 mph. Everyone should be required to scrupulously obey the laws I obey, but I should be able to disregard laws with impunity, if I find them silly or inconvenient.
I should be able to shut down the business next door to me that serves 20 other members of the community because it does not serve me and does not conform to the letter of the law in its creation. Never mind the inconveniences to the 20 people who will have to scramble to find another server.
And of course the county prosecutors should drop the rape and abuse cases that overwhelm them to see to this matter. This will allow me to have a higher property value for a property I may have no intention of selling. And last but not least, if there are any other problems, just ask me how to fix them. I have the answer and “I” can speak for everyone.
Please, let no individual who raised these concerns take personal offense, none is intended. These satirical solutions are intended to give us an opportunity to recognize the truth in them. It has been said that people in America fall into one of two categories. NIMBYs (not in my back yard) or CAVEs (citizens against virtually everything). This is certainly reflected in my proposed solutions.
This letter is not a criticism of people who speak out in their own self interests. Assertiveness, combined with tact and moderation, is an important value. This is a call to all to elevate our concerns to the community level, when appropriate, and discuss them from the perspective of: “What is best for the community?” keeping in mind that our Point Roberts community is part of a larger Whatcom County community.
Unless we become more selfless we can not expect the nature of the community to change. Point Roberts has evolved into the place it is, complete with the rampant self absorption and apathy that seem to affect our society. If we don’t recognize this and choose to rise above these things, we cannot expect to rise above them as a community.
With the greatest respect for those who work to make a difference,
Yahzdi Taillon
Point Roberts

The Editor:
The raffle in December to benefit the Blue Heron Community Van was a huge success. Thank you to everyone who bought tickets or emptied their pockets to support the service. More volunteers are needed.
If you are able to help in any way, please call 945-2844.
Shannon Tomsen
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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