INSIDE

Point Roberts water district manager Dan Bourks is hopeful they have found another road to more water connections.

“There’s a bit of light at the end of the tunnel here,” he told members of the Point Roberts Registered Voters Association at their March 26 annual general meeting.

Bourks said district engineers were meeting with state department of health representatives in coming weeks to discuss the impact of improvement to the Greater Vancouver Water District (GVWD) system on water availability in Point Roberts.

Bourks said Vancouver will have a filtration plant online at their Seymour reservoir, from which Point Roberts gets most of its water, in 2008. All GVWD water is scheduled to be disinfected by filtration by 2010.

With state approval, once Point Roberts is buying filtered water it can use the existing tank now being used for chlorine disinfection for storage, which could allow up to 800 water connections to be available.

“Right now we can’t draw down that tank because it’s being used for disinfection,” Bourks said.

Plans to build an additional storage tank are also proceeding, Bourks said. At a special meeting March 26 commissioners approved in principle a contract with developers to fund construction of the new tank.

By Meg Olson

Just days before he was due at a hearing on his suspended green card Peter Roberts got it back.

Roberts had his green card taken from him by Customs and Border Protection officers at Point Roberts who questioned his Native American status. The Tsawwassen dentist has fair coloring from a Ukrainian mother but claims 50 percent Native American ancestry from his father, a member of the Campbell River Band.

Under the 200-year-old Jay Treaty, Roberts claimed, he had a right to live and work on either side of the border. It was his understanding, said attorney Len Saunders, that the green card issued to him as a child was based on his status as a Native American under that treaty. It turned out it wasn’t.

“The government was kind enough to concede he was issued a green card in 1966 under a different category and they were willing to admit him under that category,” Saunders said. “We would have liked to litigate the Jay Treaty issue and I think we would have won, but in the end it was a compromise we thought was fair.”

There is still time to donate to the proposed Lily Point Park.
Led by a small non-profit organization, the Whatcom Land Trust, local and not so local donors are uniting in an effort to purchase this extraordinary 90-acre marine shoreline property, together with 40 acres of tidelands, with the intention of protecting it as a natural park and ecological heritage area.

With just $350,000 left to raise of the $3.5 million purchase price, the trust is optimistic that this biologically-rich habitat will be maintained for future generations. They are asking everyone, on both sides of the border, to help them complete the purchase.

Donations may be sent to either: The Land Conservancy, 301-1195 Esquimalt Road, Victoria, B.C. V9A 3N6. The donor must write “Boundary Bay” in the memo line in order to get the donation credited to Lily Point. Whatcom Land Trust, Box 6131, Bellingham, WA 98227. Write “Lily Point” in the memo line.

For additional information contact: Jerry DeBacker, Whatcom Land Trust, jerry@ whatcomlandtrust.org or 360/650-9470.

The Point Roberts Contractors Association is seeking members for its new group.

The association opened April 1 and hopes to provide further economic growth and an opportunity for independent contractors on the Point.

Membership is open to all categories of contract worker and employers. From bookkeepers working at home to skilled tradesmen seeking employment there are services available to enhance any self-employed individual’s efforts to succeed in the Point Roberts marketplace.

Point Roberts Contractors Association is open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and by appointment. It is located at 175 Tyee Road.

Memberships for the self-employed start at $30 per month. Job postings for the month of April will be free to employers in celebration of launch. Homeowners, employers and contractors should call 945-4080 to receive a brochure and membership application.

Whidbey Telecom has announced their 2008 Directory Cover Art Competition for local artists. The competition’s winning artwork is featured on the cover of approximately 20,000 telephone directories, which are circulated annually throughout Whidbey Telecom’s local and extended customer base. This year’s competition theme is “Colors and Flavors of Pacific Northwest Living.” Artists featured on the directory covers have included Valerie Mayer of Point Roberts. Competition entry forms and specific details are available online at www.whidbey.com or by calling 945-1122.