FRONT PAGE

2007 in Review
And that's all she wrote, folks

That’s it. No more. Another year under the bridge. Boom. Just like that. Don’t believe us? Here’s the proof. A final look-back at what happened in Point Roberts in 2007.

January
• The new property assessments from Whatcom County saw assessed values double or more on Point Roberts properties.
• Gas cost $2.60 for a gallon of regular.
• Parks district commissioners grudgingly scheduled a public meeting on the issue of leasing parks land for the construction of a cellular telephone tower after a board member chose to resign rather than face the threats of legal action from project opponents.
• Water district commissioners asked proponents of a sewer system to try again after district legal staff found their petition for service to the southwest half of Point Roberts not legally sufficient. Proponents were directed to meet with district engineers and legal staff, at their expense, to see what they needed for a successful petition.
• The Point Roberts Emergency Preparedness Group (PREP) began a program of revitalization after an inactive period followed the resignation of the project’s founders.
•The Point Roberts yacht club celebrated its 25-year anniversary.

February
• The ongoing water moratorium was extended until July 2007, with commissioners opting not to go with a Stanton Northwest proposal to issue “conditional” water connections to developers who agreed to fund future improvements to the water system.
• The Point Roberts Parks and Recreation District board voted unanimously to move forward with a lease agreement that would allow Verizon Wireless to build a cell tower in the northwest corner of the district’s property which is home to the school, the skate park and Baker Field. The district would earn $12,000 a year.
• The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative went into effect in the air, requiring all air travelers to the United States to carry passports.
• Deputy Mike King replaced Jeff Turner as one of two locally stationed Whatcom County Sheriff’s deputies.
• Airlift Northwest announced it was again offering airlift insurance under a new AirCare program.
• Banner Bank opened in a new expanded space at the International Marketplace.
• The TELUS shack at the tip of Lighthouse Marine Park was torn down.
• The NEXUS highway program was integrated with the air program and boaters were added to the trusted-traveler program with a phone-in clearance system for members.

March
• Property owners flooded the water district meeting asking if 36 applicants to the county for single family building permits could be issued water from the limited number of connections left and pending comprehensive plan approval. On the advice of legal counsel commissioners said no.
•Garbage company owner Arthur Wilkowski got plenty of attention from regulators and customers when he sent out letters saying anyone who took any part of their waste anywhere else would be “permanently excluded” from the garbage system.
• Tax bills came out and doubled assessments meant double or more taxes for some, but a drop in taxes for the few whose assessments didn’t go up or only did so marginally.
• Firefighters learned to use the new $20,000 mobile spill kit assigned to Point Roberts by the Washington state department of ecology.
• The library adds a self-checkout terminal.
• The Boobs Across the Border team began fundraising for the 2007 Vancouver Weekend to End Breast Cancer walk.
• Parks commissioners cried foul and turned information over to the police when the creators of the www.wakeuppointroberts.com website, which posts information about the dangers of cellular telephone towers, fraudulently used the telephone number of parks board chair Irene Waters. The parks board signed a letter authorizing Verizon Wireless to apply to build a tower on parks property.
• The International Boundary Commission announced plans to revamp the border as it crosses Boundary Bay with a series of flashing markers.

April
• Whatcom County began what would become a mandatory inspection and testing system for on-site septics.
• Cobalt Properties bought the Point Roberts Marina Resort – including the marina basin and the developed area around it and an additional 110 undeveloped acres, for $15 million.
• Water district commissioners received the draft of the district’s new water comprehensive plan, the first step out of a moratorium on new connections.
• The fire department got money back from the state auditor’s office after being overbilled for auditing services.
• Drainage and seawall repairs to the north end of Bayview Drive temporarily closed the road. After15 years teaching Point Roberts youngest students, Rita Worth, formerly Zimbelman, announced she would retire in June.

May
• The garden club planted the first of many planned beautification projects – a grassy berm at the corner of Benson Road and Tyee Drive.
• Customs and Border Protection added two additional staff members to the local port of entry to address concerns from residents and local businesses over long border lineups.
• The water district unveiled new rates and connection fees. Connection fees proposed would more than double to pay for an aggressive $10 million capital improvement project to upgrade and expand the current system to accommodate growth. Rates also are increasing to cover the rising cost of water and the replacement of 35 miles of old water mains that have been plagued by ruptures.

June
• Fire district commissioners grappled with how to deal with facility and equipment shortages. The district needs a new fire engine but needs to expand or revamp facilities to have somewhere to put it.
• Property owners on private roads got notification from the fire department that, without road and fireflow improvements, emergency vehicles might not be able to get to them in an emergency.
• Members of the Boundary Bay sea scouts raised the flag at the marina to officially open the boating season.
• The Point Roberts Taxpayers’ Association made preserving Lily Point for public use their number one priority.
• The Cumali family from San Francisco took over as new owners of Whalen’s RV Park.

July
• At the Point Roberts Taxpayers’ association annual general meeting developer Stanton Northwest representative Randy Forsyth presented plans for a gated community of 106 luxury homes on land west of Claire Lane. Association president Michael Rosser presented plans for land east of the road to become a public park through partnerships with the Whatcom Land trust and county parks.
• Noah Meyer and Katherine Yorke, two young local Marines, were the parade marshals for the annual Fourth of July parade.
• Water commissioners approved proposed rate and connection fee charges, including a 266 percent increase for each new connection.
• Eleven local high school seniors graduated from Blaine high school, and seven students, both recent grads and continuing college student, received scholarships from Dollars for Scholars.
• Thirteen community members underwent a weekend of community emergency response team training, learning everything from setting bones to putting up shelters.
• Water district commissioner Sue Johnson resigned for health reasons and current fire commissioner Bill Meursing filed to take her place and was later appointed to it.
• Local fire chief Bill Skinner again expressed concern that with too few volunteers from the community, and many of them constrained by their work schedules during the day, the department had a limited response ability during the work week.
• At the border, a passport requirement for everyone crossing into the U.S was put on hold until June 2008, those who applied for a passport and were caught in a huge backlog applied for refunds of the fee they paid for expedited service, and the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Seattle office clarified that while dropping off while in the NEXUS lane is a no-no, dropping someone off at the park is fine.

August
• A “bomb” that turned out to be a prop highlighted problems with responding to real emergencies when it took the bomb squad six hours and a boat ride to get agents and equipment to Point Roberts.
• After two years in a moratorium the water district announced it was ready to randomly allocate 100 water connections to applicants in a September lottery.
• Longtime resident Ruby White published Musings From Over the Hill, a collection of essays about the state of society.
• Ten unique and wonderful gardens were featured in the Point Roberts Garden Tour, another annual project of the local garden club.
• The PREP group gave tours of a new Red Cross disaster services van now stationed in the community.

September
• A local jogger was struck by a vehicle on Goodman Road and rushed to the hospital. The car’s driver was arrested at the scene but concerns about law enforcement communications surfaced again when the local deputies were not called out until the state patrol was almost on the scene – almost an hour after the accident was reported.
• Tackling a wave of NEXUS renewals CBP launched an online renewal and enrollment process, part of a continued effort to centralize processing and review for the trusted-traveler program.
• The Whatcom Land Trust began actively fundraising to complete the purchase of 90 acres on Lily Point for preservation.
• A wave of local donations made it possible for new Point Roberts primary teacher to purchase an at-risk horse named Maxi.
• Marina owner Steve MacKay announced plans to raise cattle on undeveloped Marina property.
• The annual Arts and Music Festival filled a sunny weekend with art, music and lots of music.
• Leeks, lentils and gladiolas joined beef and citrus on the no-buy list for local shoppers buying produce in Canada, after new agricultural rules banned them from entry into the U.S.

October
• As the first wave of NEXUS renewals came due, expiring, revoked and denied memberships outnumbered new approvals and renewals, leading to questions about stringent program policies.
• Out of 420 applicants asking for a total of 489 water connections, 77 got what they asked for in the random allocation of 100 water connections by the water district.
• Ben and Sheila Lazarus bought the local chandlery and marine service business Westwind Marine as longtime owners Pat and Buzz Buckler headed off to retirement.
• The 14 families whose homes are sitting on rented mobile home pads at the Sunny Point Resort Park got eviction notices asking them to leave by October of 2008.
• Mary Edgley took over as the new teacher at Point Roberts Primary School.
• The Whatcom Transportation Authority put in motion plans to discontinue the local Blue Heron Express community van service.

November
• National NEXUS boss John Wagner defended the success of the NEXUS program and assured that adequate avenues existed to resolve appeals of denials or revocations.
• The Blaine school district announced plans to put a $40 million capital improvement bond on the ballot in March 2008 along with the districts regular operations and maintenance levy.
• Fireman’s Bingo announced plans to close its doors after a combination of non-smoking laws, Canadian casinos and border lineups led to a steady decline in business.
• Fire chief Bill Skinner announced plans to retire in April, to the shock of fire commissioners
• Organizers announced the 5th annual Holiday Craft Fair and Community Dinner would again raise funds for the local food bank.
• Scott Hackleman was appointed to fill a vacancy left on the water district board after the resignation of Renée Coe.
• Fire commissioners put plans for an additional equipment storage on hold when bids for the building came in almost double the engineers estimate and the end of bingo brought that space in as a possibility for an expanded station.
• Pastor Jean Barrington was installed as the new pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, the first time the church has had a permanent pastor since the retirement of Ernie Loreen 10 years ago.
• Nine cows and one bull arrived by boat to make their home on undeveloped land owned by the Point Roberts Marina Resort.
• A fire at the marina destroyed five boats.
• The Wacky Walkers celebrated their fifth anniversary.

December
• With the Canadian dollar at par or above water district commissioners discussed reviewing rates to reflect a higher water cost.
• The Whatcom Transportation Authority board of directors voted 4-3 to eliminate community van service in the county, including the Point Roberts Blue Heron van.
• The ban on Canadian beef was lifted at the border.
• At their annual meeting the chamber of commerce offered to become a clearinghouse for proposals and projects, getting local groups to coordinate their efforts. Retiring parks board president Irene Waters was given a lifetime achievement award and the garden club was recognized for their beautification projects along Tyee Drive.
• Local emergency responders all along the northern border voiced concerns about getting first responders and patients back and forth across the border in an emergency after CBP officers stopped emergency vehicles, forcing unusual delays, two days in a row in New York and Michigan.
• The voters association began a petition to request that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security establish a formal appeals process for those that have had their NEXUS cards revoked or denied.
• A decades old informal effort to control the local stray cat population organized as the Point Roberts Animal Wellbeing Society, PAWS, a non-profit fundraising for an organizing efforts to spay or neuter, treat, vaccinate and then release wild cats.
• PREP brought together emergency services personnel from both Delta and Whatcom County to discuss the challenges the community’s geographic position creates and how to overcome them.
• Gas cost $3.25 a gallon.