July
• Blaine-Birch Bay Park and Recreation District 2 (BBBPRD2) welcomed new exercise coordinator Kaileigh Hubbard.
• The Birch Bay berm process drive thought-about path restrictions for bikes and digital scooters.
• Blaine Metropolis Council gave remaining approval to the Drayton Attain plat that may create 39 tons within the Montfort Park neighborhood. The town will even create a brand new park and path with seaside entry to Drayton Harbor within the space.
• The town of Blaine celebrated its annual Previous Long-established Fourth of July with an unofficial automotive present, avenue distributors, stay music and children video games.
• Groups tackled the Ragnar Street Northwest Passage, a 200-mile relay working race from Blaine to Langley, at Peace Arch Park July 9.
• The town of Blaine despatched a stop and desist letter to a neighborhood landscaper for doing unauthorized landscaping on metropolis property with out the town’s permission and posting it on YouTube.
• Youngsters cooled off from the summer time warmth by working by sprinklers in downtown Blaine streets throughout BBBPRD2’s Splash Days July 16 and July 30.
• As Covid-19 restrictions had been lifted, some native authorities conferences such because the Blaine faculty district and Port of Bellingham began providing in-person choices along with digital attendance.
• Blaine Metropolis Council amended the 2021-22 funds to incorporate $1.5 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and dedicated $6 million to fixing the dilapidated east Blaine sewer system in 2022. The town put aside ARPA funds, federal Covid-19 stimulus cash to offset income misplaced in 2020 and 2021 as a result of pandemic, to pay for issues resembling a utility invoice reduction program for individuals unable to pay their payments.
• Blaine and Birch Bay companies adopted a development nationwide of battling with brief staffed eating places as they opened to full capability.
• The Bligh Island, a derelict Nineteen Thirties fishing vessel, sank off Level Whitehorn whereas being towed from Blaine Harbor to Bellingham.
• The Neighborhood Help Program clothes financial institution opened to the general public in its new location on the former Freedom Neighborhood Church.
• Peace Arch State Park weddings continued all through the summer time for cross-border {couples} unable to journey freely between the U.S. and Canada.
• Blaine’s Black Forest Steakhouse quickly closed for six weeks attributable to workers shortages and despatched its staff to assist at sister restaurant CJ’s Seaside Home in Birch Bay.
• Blaine Metropolis Council unanimously voted to rescind the proclamation of emergency, first enacted in March 2020 to assist the town handle pandemic response.
• U.S. border patrol chief Rodney Scott visited Blaine.
• Birch Bay’s annual Rollback Weekend and Sand Sculpture Competitors returned July 23-25.
• Unemployment claims return to prepandemic ranges in Whatcom County and Washington state.
• Whatcom County Council prohibited the constructing of recent refineries and transport amenities at Cherry Level.
August
• Voters rejected the North Whatcom Hearth and Rescue levy lid raise within the August 3 main election.
• The Blaine Neighborhood Theater returned to the stage for its first efficiency because the pandemic to showcase the “Pirates of Penzance” water balloon present throughout Pirate Daze.
• The B.C. Royal Canadian Mounted Police reported methamphetamine seizures on the U.S./Canada border elevated 110 p.c in 2020 from the yr earlier than.
• Birch Bay beekeeper Ruthie Danielsen bought the primary Asian large hornet nest discovered and eradicated within the U.S. to additional schooling on the invasive species. The nest was displayed on the Northwest Washington Honest in Lynden earlier than it could be displayed within the Smithsonian Nationwide Museum of Pure Historical past in Washington, D.C.
• New Blaine Police Division officer Katelyn Weaver was awarded a life-saving service award for serving to save a person’s life in a automotive crash.
• Actual property excise tax revenues soar throughout excessive housing demand.
• Blaine Senior Heart welcomed new director Gordon MacGregor.
• Governor Jay Inslee mandated state and personal well being care staff wanted to be absolutely vaccinated by October 18. Whatcom County and the town of Blaine didn’t make mandates for his or her staff.
• Unions representing the Canada Border Providers Company staff reached an settlement with the Canadian authorities August 6 after a work-to-rule marketing campaign backed up about 100 vehicles on I-5.
• The Canadian border opened to nonessential journey from absolutely vaccinated U.S. residents on August 9 so long as they took a PCR Covid-19 check inside 72 hours of crossing the border.
• Blaine Metropolis Council returned for its first in-person assembly because the pandemic on August 9.
• The primary stay Asian large hornet was noticed in east Blaine, which finally led Washington State Division of Agriculture (WSDA) scientists to find the primary nest of 2021 in east Blaine, one-quarter of a mile from the nest present in 2020.
• A surge within the Delta Covid-19 variant and cross-border journey brought on Whatcom County suppliers to see double the demand for testing.
• About 50 dad and mom and neighborhood members assembled exterior of the Blaine Excessive College cafeteria to protest governor Jay Inslee’s masks mandates on August 25.
• The completion of the Birch Bay berm was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony August 21.
• Blaine Metropolis Council conferences return to being solely held on-line till the state’s indoor masks mandate is lifted for absolutely vaccinated people.
September
• The Blaine Police Division looked for funding choices to begin its body-worn digital camera program that’s required in 2022 below new Washington state legislation.
• Uncover Birch Bay Days returned for its forty second yr and introduced three days of household actions.
• The Peace Arch celebrated its centennial September 6, albeit no official celebration due to the pandemic.
• The Blaine faculty board requested Whatcom County officers take heed to neighborhood members towards the state’s masks and vaccination mandates in a September 7 letter.
• A Federal Railroad Administration report cited vandalism as a probable issue within the December 22, 2020 Custer practice derailment.
• The ninth annual Run with the Friends was held at BP Highlands September 11.
• An unofficial ceremony on the Peace Arch paid tribute to those that misplaced their lives and put their lives on the road 20 years prior throughout the September 11, 2001 terror assaults.
• The town of Blaine welcomed new finance director Daniel Heverling.
• At the least 168 individuals examined constructive for Covid-19 after attending the Northwest Washington Honest in Lynden.
• WSDA scientists eradicated the second Asian large hornet nest present in east Blaine in 2021.
• Blaine Metropolis Council gave remaining plat approval to the primary East Maple Ridge plat, which was anticipated to have 48 single-family tons and 12 multi-family parcels with 48 models.
• A Seattle jury convicted Ellen Reiche, of Bellingham, charged with one rely of violence towards a railroad service for putting shunts on practice tracks in north Bellingham in November 2020.
• Sheila Wooden was employed because the Blaine Chamber of Commerce’s new government director.
• Journey author and T.V. persona Rick Steves highlighted Blaine in a video collection exploring Whatcom County.
• WSDA scientists eradicated the third Asian large hornet nest present in east Blaine in 2021.
• Blaine faculty board president Charles Gibson adjourned the September board assembly for one hour after a neighborhood member refused to put on a masks whereas talking throughout the public remark portion of the assembly. The assembly was continued later that evening on-line.
• Blaine Metropolis Council gave remaining plat approval to Woodberry, a 29 single-family dwelling subdivision simply south of Hearth Station 62 on Semiahmoo Parkway that had beforehand brought on public concern on its environmental affect.
• Dwelling Pantry, a zero-waste retailer that opened in Blaine in 2020, opened a second location in Bellingham.
• Former Whatcom County Sheriff’s Workplace corrections deputy, Christopher Frederic Baetz of Blaine, was sentenced to at least one month in jail after he pleaded responsible to smuggling gadgets for a feminine inmate earlier within the yr.
October
• A single-use plastic bag ban began statewide October 1.
• Nationwide Evening Out, an annual parade celebrating first responders, returned October 5.
• Associates of the Birch Bay Library members waved indicators in assist of Proposition 14, a November 2021 election poll measure that might fund library building, at busy intersections in Blaine and Birch Bay.
• The Semiahmoo Good Ol’ Boys golf group donated $16,000 to Blaine Meals Financial institution.
• The Washington state Division of Commerce opened a grant program for small companies impacted by the U.S./Canada border closure. As much as $50,000 in grants had been obtainable to companies that utilized by the October 18 deadline.
• Drayton Harbor Oyster Firm expanded into the previous Kaisacole Seafood Market so as to add additional bar seating.
• The town of Blaine submitted requests to make use of Whatcom County’s ARPA funds to help paying for a $2.5 million sewer rehabilitation challenge within the Lettered Avenue neighborhood and $500,000 for a North Harvey Street water pump station.
• Skeers Building, Inc. and Land Improvement Engineering and Surveying, Inc. held a public assembly on the Mott’s Hill Overlook challenge, an east Blaine neighborhood that might create 54 single-family properties.
• A federal decide sentenced Samantha Frances Brooks, of Bellingham, to 6 months in jail after she pleaded responsible to interfering with a railroad signaling system in north Bellingham in November 2020.
• Whatcom County Council voted 4-3 to create a no-shooting zone in Drayton Harbor inside 1,000 toes of the shoreline simply days earlier than searching opened in Drayton Harbor October 16.
• Washington State Division of Transportation closed the Custer relaxation stops once more after they had been quickly closed earlier within the yr due to lack of assets.
• Members of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 165 requested Whatcom County cease its plans to demolish the Northwest Annex, a Twenties Tudor-style constructing on Smith Street and Northwest Drive.
• Blaine faculty district had 40 fewer college students on the primary day of college than it did in 2020, the bottom the district’s enrollment had been in 5 years.
• BP introduced it plans to speculate $269 million in three initiatives on the Cherry Level that may deliver greater than 300 jobs within the subsequent three years and cut back the refinery’s carbon emissions and double its renewable diesel manufacturing.
• The Port of Bellingham director of financial growth introduced two potential patrons had been buying the Alcoa Intalco Works aluminum smelter in Ferndale.
• Blaine faculty district finance director Amber Porter mentioned within the October faculty board assembly that the district has the funds to buy a property in Birch Bay the place a future faculty might be constructed.
• By the state’s October 18 vaccine mandate, native organizations such because the Blaine faculty district, North Whatcom Hearth and Rescue and PeaceHealth St. Joseph Hospital had exempted some workers who weren’t absolutely vaccinated.
• Tony Andrews, proprietor of Tony’s Simply A Chew, determined to go away Blaine after practically 40 years of proudly owning eating places on the town.
• Whatcom County Council unanimously voted to reverse its determination to create a Drayton Harbor no-shooting zone, leaving nothing modified after two years of debate in county council. Council chair Barry Buchanan attributed treaty rights as a part of the brand new determination.
• The Blaine faculty board voted to terminate the employment of a cheer coach after she didn’t meet the varsity’s exemption lodging for the vaccine mandate.
• Blaine Metropolis Council prolonged the utility moratorium by one week, till the primary week of November, to present prospects behind on funds throughout the state’s utility moratorium yet one more probability to pay their payments or create a compensation plan.
November
• Voters rejected the North Whatcom Hearth and Rescue levy lid raise for a second time within the November 2021 election.
• Proposition 14, which might have established the Birch Bay library capital facility space to fund building of the Birch Bay library, was 26 votes away from assembly the supermajority threshold wanted within the November 2021 election. Whatcom County Library System officers introduced it could be on a particular February 2022 poll.
• U.S. congresswomen Suzan DelBene (WA-01) and Pramila Jayapa (WA-07) demanded a proper apology from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol after officers detained nearly 100 Iranian-Individuals in January 2020 on the Peace Arch Border Crossing.
• Southwest Airways made its inaugural flight into Bellingham Worldwide Airport November 7.
• The U.S. opened its border to nonessential journey from absolutely vaccinated Canadians on November 8. Nevertheless, Canadians nonetheless had been required to point out proof of a damaging Covid-19 check when returning to Canada.
• U.S. congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) visited Blaine shops to see the border city open for Canadian guests.
• Blaine Metropolis Council voted unanimously to make use of $118,000 in ARPA funds to pay for a G Avenue pavilion.
• A New York Metropolis funding group acquired Chuckanut Bay Meals in a $6.6 million buy.
• The Veterans of International Wars Publish 9474 and American Legion Publish 86 honored navy members in a Veterans Day ceremony exterior of the Blaine police station.
• The Washington state division of commerce awarded Covid-19 reduction grants to over 100 Whatcom County companies impacted by the U.S./Canada border closure.
• A civil case between Smuggler’s Inn proprietor Bob Boule and a U.S. Customs and a Border Safety agent was introduced that will probably be heard within the U.S. Supreme Courtroom and will doubtlessly broaden first modification rights.
• State senator Doug Ericksen (R-Ferndale) examined constructive for Covid-19 shortly after arriving in El Salvador and requested Republican state legislators for assist receiving remedy. He then took a medevac flight to a Florida hospital.
• Extreme flooding closed Blaine and Birch Bay roads November 15. The flooding devastated different components of the county, forcing lots of of evacuations alongside the Nooksack River. Governor Jay Inslee declared a extreme climate state of emergency for 14 counties impacted by the heavy rainfall.
• Canada dropped the Covid-19 testing requirement for absolutely vaccinated Canadians taking journeys lower than 72 hours into the U.S. on November 30.
• Rep. Sharon Shewmake (D-Bellingham) introduced she would run for the forty second Legislative District seat within the state senate.
• Volunteer assist poured in for Whatcom County residents impacted by the extreme flooding in mid-November.
December
• Vacation Harbor Lights returned for a day-long celebration.
State information confirmed most faculty staff throughout the state who obtained vaccine exemptions had been for spiritual causes. Ninety p.c of Blaine faculty district staff had been absolutely vaccinated and eight p.c obtained a non secular exemption.
• Blaine Metropolis Councilmember Richard Could and Bellingham resident Joe Timmons introduced they’d run for state consultant within the forty second Legislative District.
• Pierce County resident Gary Vernon Johnson pleaded responsible to vehicular murder in a July 2020 crash on I-5 that killed his brother, Blaine resident David Bruce Johnson.
• The Washington State Division of Ecology (DOE) awarded the Lighthouse Level Water Reclamation Facility a 2020 Wastewater Remedy Plant Excellent Efficiency Award.
• The Blaine faculty board adopted a second redistricting plan after a push from Birch Bay residents involved about illustration. The plan will give Birch Bay two of its personal districts, Blaine two of its personal and one break up between them.
• Blaine faculty district board vice chairman Laura McKinney resigned from the board and introduced she and her household are transferring out of state.
• Gary Slavin, proprietor of The Rustic Fork Eatery, opened Gateway 1890 Taphouse & Grill in downtown Blaine.
• Blaine Police Division arrested a 12-year-old after graffiti threatening a faculty capturing was present in a Blaine Center College boys toilet. This got here after different Whatcom County faculties had faculty capturing threats.
• Harbor Customized Improvement, the developer for Horizon at Semiahmoo, introduced it was in contract to buy Grandis Pond from Blossom Administration.
• State senator Doug Ericksen, a longtime conservative member within the state legislature, died December 17.
• Smuggler’s Inn proprietor Bob Boule pleaded responsible to serving to individuals cross into Canada by his bed-and-breakfast. Boule will serve 30 months of probation.
• A federal decide sentenced Ellen Reiche to 12 months in jail for one rely of violence towards a railroad service after she tried to position shunts on railway tracks in north Bellingham in November 2020.
• Governor Jay Inslee despatched a request to President Joe Biden to declare November’s flooding a federal emergency main catastrophe.
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