INSIDE

Around the Point

Where’s the beef? It’s coming

Canadian beef is back on the menu after the U.S. agricultural authorities lifted the ban on personal importation of beef November 19. Lamb chops, however, are still bad news.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) public affairs officer Mike Milne, “personal use amounts of beef are ok in passenger baggage as long as they can be identified as beef and contain no goat or lamb products.” Goat and lamb products will remain prohibited at this time, but bison products are allowed.

For grocery shoppers crossing the border Milne said it was important they look at the ingredient list on products that could contain lamb or goat as well as beef, such as dog food, because that would make those items inadmissible.

The beef ban at the border was put in place in May, 2003 after bovine spongiform encephalopathy – Mad Cow Disease – was confirmed in a Canadian cow. Restrictions were lifted later that year on commercial importation of meat from animals that could be certified as under 30 months old, and in 2005 live cattle imports from Canada resumed.

Cell tower hearing reset
The hearing on a Verizon Wireless proposal to build a 150-foot tall cellular telephone tower on park property has been rescheduled to December.

The Whatcom County Hearing Examiner’s office has announced the hearing on the company’s conditional use application has been scheduled for December 12 at 1:45 p.m. at the Whatcom County Courthouse. Written and oral comments may be submitted to the hearing examiner at the hearing. Mailed comments need to be received by the hearing examiner’s office prior to the hearing to be included in the record.

To be notified of any actions taken on the application contact the county hearing examiner’s office at 360/676-6794.

Local voice on school district

Point Roberts has a voice on the Blaine school board again after the election of Campbell McClusky this November.

McClusky defeated Blaine resident Chuck Green for the position by a wide margin, earning 63 percent of the 3,227 votes cast. He will take up his spot on the Blaine school district board in January 2008.

Voter turnout for Point Roberts was small but of the 297 ballots cast 72 percent voted to approve another two-year levy for the operation and maintenance of the local parks system.

Almost all positions on locally elected boards went uncontested: water commissioner Bill Meursing went from being appointed to elected, and fire commissioner David Gellatly, hospital district commissioner Dick Williams, parks commissioners Linda Hughes and Bev Griffith and cemetery district commissioner Erica Loreen were all reelected. Marc Robbins was elected to fill Irene Waters’ slot on the local parks board.
Write-in candidate Robin Nault is the new hospital district board member after receiving 169 votes. Lawrence Wheeler, who withdrew from active campaigning, received 113.