INSIDE

Voters to seek NEXUS petition

By Pamala Sheppard

Former Point Roberts Registered Voter’s Association (PRRVA) president Ruby White energized an otherwise lackluster PRRVA meeting at the community center on Tuesday, November 6. White arrived, bearing a request that the board poll the registered voters to see if they would participate in petitioning the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the joint U.S./Canadian Nexus working group.

The petition would request an appeals process for applicants who have been denied NEXUS or had their privileges revoked. It would call for a statute of limitations for offenses of NEXUS users and the classification of goods coming through Canada from the mainland U.S. as “in transit.”

Current president Campbell McClusky expressed concern about the time and money required to do such a mailing to over 400 registered voters.

“We have a real lack of active members on the board,” he said.
White responded by offering funds for postage and some volunteer help, and she urged other community-minded residents of Point Roberts to follow her lead and become more actively involved.

“The voter’s association is the one organization that can go to state, county, and federal levels and say, hey, this needs to change. It is the association that has validity,” White stated. “When I was president, we fought the International Joint Committee and kept Point Roberts from being turned into a park. We had hundreds of people at our meetings.”
McClusky agreed to do a presentation about the petition at the Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce annual general meeting on November 20.

McClusky also had some correspondence from Senator Patty Murray regarding her recent contact with the International Joint Commission regarding the Delta Port expansion project. The commission is forwarding the environmental concerns of Point Roberts citizens to the Office of Canadian Affairs at U.S. Department of State.