Birch Bay Does New Year's Well

The Ring of Fire and Hope in the early New Year’s Eve and the Polar Bear Plunge New Year’s Day make Birch Bay a genuine destination for the holiday.

The Ring, started by Mike Kent several years ago, is becoming an unique tradition with road flares encircling the bay. Each year there are more. One day – yes, we can hope – the rim of fire will be complete. This photo shows the action at Alderson Beach. What we like most is the conviviality of strangers in the dark lighting the flares and enjoying the spectacle.

This was the 26th Plunge – actually there have been 27, the counters lost track or the first one didn’t qualify – sponsored by the Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce. Overnight snow didn’t deter participants. A small group of eager plungers waited at the door of the Visitors’ Information Center for registration to begin at 9:30.

Registration was free this year and commemorative T-shirts sold for $15. The reason for registration was to get a count, provide certificates of participation and offer coupon books of merchant specials. Over 220 signed up for the plunge, a few more than last year, and some uncounted number opt out of registering.

One of the happiest plungers was Dr. Bruce Pederson of the Birch Bay Family Medicine Clinic. In the water for the 12th year, he did more than the required “up to your shoulders” – he swam out a ways and floated on his back before strolling back to shore.

First time plunger, Lisa Guthrie, the Chamber’s new president, said she “couldn’t feel a thing, it was so cold.” She and Kelvin Barton were still smiling after their dip.

Judging for the best individual “costume” was easy. This "doll" gained everyone’s attention well before the judging began.

A new category, farthest distance traveled to the event, was more difficult. Early in the morning a fellow from Tokyo was the favorite. Then a young woman from Germany said, “Look it up.” Sure enough, she was ahead by 300 miles. Then, just before the prizes were awarded, a man showed up from Hong Kong.

Those folks, the one or two thousand onlookers, the Ring of Fire and Hope lighters, and the merchants offering specials are all examples of what makes Birch Bay a place to celebrate every day of the year, but particularly on New Year's

Holiday Greetings

Wishing you Peace, Love

and (hopefully) Prosperity

now and in the coming year.


Al & Ruth

Prevention Trumps Detention

Last last Tuesday afternoon, as others were preparing to go to the five-hour discussion of Whatcom County’s budget to successfully argue for retention of our neighborhood sheriff, we sat down with Deputy Sheriff Cliff Langley. He has been looking after Birch Bay since May of 2007. The conversation further convinced us that the community is fortunate to have this officer in our presence.

While no figures are yet available to compare crime in Birch Bay before and after he was assigned, Deputy Cliff does not think crime is a major problem here now. But he cautions, “If people want a safe community, they need to be involved.”

He cites the experience of a man who saw a group of youths checking car doors. They were out of his sight before they found a vehicle to ransack. Asked why he didn’t report what he saw, the man said, “Nothing was happening.”

Deputy Cliff’s point is that had the man called 9-1-1, the break-in might have been prevented. “Too many are apathetic.” He would like to see a Block Watch or Map Your Neighborhood program to enhance citizen involvement.

Those who don’t want to “snitch” can take comfort from the deputy’s approach. When neighbors complained about young people throwing loud parties, he talked with the parents. The noisy parties stopped. “My goal is to educate and keep kids out of trouble, rather than to make arrests,” he explains.

Deputy Cliff has mixed views about speeding. Naturally, he welcomes reports but he cautions that cars seem to be going faster than they actually are. In one case, he was talking to a resident who said, “Look how that car is speeding.” The deputy checked his radar to find that the car was well within the posted limit.

The most difficult issues are domestic disputes, “Sometimes you can’t be sure which party will pull a gun.” In 24 years in law enforcement, Deputy Cliff has never had to fire his weapon in action. But every time he puts on his uniform, he says he thinks, “Today might be the day.” He taps his protective vest.

Postscript for Park & Rec

Few things are more disturbing for a commentator than to learn that a phrase meant to be simply provocative turns out offensive. So it was with “too busy to attend” in last week’s comment about two Northwest Park & Rec commissioners who were not at the 11/17 meeting. Commissioner Terry Johnston, shown at right, did explain that Ted Morris was called away for a state parks meeting, but to my knowledge said nothing about Richard Sturgill, who--I soon learned – had suffered a heart attack the previous weekend. Naturally, he and his family are angry even though I did not name Richard as absent.

“Too busy to attend” at the time was not meant as a pejorative. The phrase was meant to express that many concerned people are not able to attend some meetings as in, “The mother with three children busy with homework and a husband resting before the night shift at the refinery is too busy to attend a meeting.” My purpose was to convey that the commissioners and their consultants should find ways to inform those affected about the commission’s activity. (Of course, now I realize that wasn’t how the message was received.)

I certainly didn’t want to offend Mr. Sturgill or his family. At the first Park & Rec brainstorming meeting at Semiahmoo, he greeted me, then a stranger, warmly. At subsequent meetings, I have looked forward to seeing him.

Along with feeling remorse, I’ve been pondering how concerned citizens of the community can be informed about significant meetings when they are, indeed, too busy to attend. Such processes need more people to be watchdogs as well as participants.

An analysis of the Obama campaign pointed out that its success was in the use of technology and old-fashioned grass roots organization. Few meetings in Birch Bay – and most other communities – are well attended. In many cases, those attending have a personal interest rather than concern for the community as a whole.

What if the presidents of the various homeowner associations informally chose interested members to attend meetings and report to their constituents via e-mail? Along with Park & Rec, I am thinking that the Steering Committee and its various sub-committees, the fire district, the school board, BBWARM and even water and sewer could benefit from more active community involvement. That is, involvement by more members of the community; I applaud those who have faithfully attended innumerable meetings over many years. Representatives of the Steering Committee were originally elected by neighborhood, but only some of the chosen representatives attend regularly.

Participation is a duty of citizenship – isn’t it?

ak

It's time for you to join the 21st Century

To: The Commissioners of the Northwest Park & Rec District:

Reading from e-mails sent by Alan Friedlob and Kathy Berg, who were unable to attend the meeting on November 17 at Birch Bay Bible Community Church, I argued for the restoration of Bay Horizon Park.

Bay Horizon won six stickers, one behind a trail connecting Birch Bay and Blaine. Another runner-up, a Saltwater Recreation Center at the end of the Semiahmoo Spit, also gained six stickers.

I could certainly be comfortable with those three priorities – which got a total of 19 votes of the 30 people attending the meeting. But my argument is not with the product of the three community meetings that altogether attracted a bare one percent of the District’s population. Rather, my argument is about the process that attracted so few participants. You are going to need many more people to approve of, work for whichever projects you select and, eventually, vote for the next levy.

I know the value of putting paper on the wall and making lists. About 25 years ago, I publicized the work of Michael Doyle and David Strauss, authors of the book that started that stuff, “How to Make Meetings Work.” In return for work trying to get their ideas about the importance of neutral facilitation and other factors for success into magazines, I received training that changed the ways I encouraged clients to relate to editors. For my internship, I facilitated meetings of a group of Berkeley professors attempting to save endangered plant species. But, as you may have sensed last evening, I am not very good at being neutral.

My argument isn’t that the 131 people who attended your three meetings aren’t good people, but that you need to find ways to involve more people in what you are trying to do. Too many people, particularly people who can benefit from Park and Rec, are too busy to attend meetings -- witness that two of your four commissioners were absent last evening.

In short, I think consultant Paul George’s techniques are stuck in the last century, before the Internet and all its permutations.

A lot of 20th Century folks were stunned by how Barack Obama was able to raise more money from more people than any candidate in history. A key step was attracting youth from Face Book. (Obama is going to have Saturday radio broadcasts, like previous presidents, and he’s going to put his talk on Face Book.)

What if you pulled together a variety of robust e-mail lists, such as those maintained by Kathy Berg and the Birch Bay and Blaine Chambers of Commerce to bring people to your web site? You might even put up Face Book-type programs to stimulate more interaction. There are many possibilities.

This isn’t about budget; it’s about smarts.


ak