Letterbox - Praise for WW, and County Park Debate

Dear Watchers:

Again, your front-page coverage was both wonderful and significantly appropriate. Being that the cremated remains of my nearly 95-year-old demented father now nourish the growth of a blue spruce on a friend’s Everson property, I was particularly taken by your front-page article “A Bright Idea in the Black Forest” by Bob Keller. I recall both a lecture and story by an old hero of mine, Edward Abbey; the story was about a fellow who chose to die under a tree far out on a desert mesa and the lecture about Abbey’s advocacy for depopulating our earth, made even more pertinent by his own death a short while later.

As many of us age, it’s natural to think of these end of life issues. I recall seeing the movie “All That Jazz” years ago which incorporated much of E. Kubler-Ross’s concepts from her book “On Death and Dying.” Fashionable as it was then, we’ve now added the term “carbon footprint” to our list. As culturally acceptable as it may be, cremation creates a huge carbon footprint. Personally, I’d like not only to refrain from this, but to actually nourish growth. Unfortunately, without a special use permit, uncremated remains cannot be interred on private property and the practice is illegal on public property. So, what to do? I’ve written to Rick Larson and plan to continue to champion new legislation. In the mean time, I’ll borrow both the book “Grave Matters” and the DVD “Undertaking” from the library.

Again thank you and Bob Keller for your very thoughtful and appropriate article.

Dear Watchers:

I’m newly here in Bellingham from South Whidbey. The Whidbey Record and The Bellingham Herald are journalistic wastelands. How pleasantly surprised I was to grab up the Whatcom Independent and the Whatcom Watch. Most recently, the article on the Conspiracy was very nicely written. My commendations to that journalist. Thanks.

Dear Watchers:

I found the March issue of Whatcom Watch quite enjoyable. There were a variety of wide-ranging articles that probably could grab just about anyone’s interest.

The juxtaposition of two particular articles I found quite interesting. Seth Cool literally swoons over a proposal to transfer 8400 acres of Forest Board land – 7400 acres of which are inside the Lake Whatcom watershed - from Department of Natural Resources (DNR) control to Whatcom County administrative control (“Imagine: A Lake Whatcom Forest Preserve”).

At the same time, Greg Kirsch shows us the somber reality of what county administrative control means – pretty much a wink and a nod to watershed developers who continue to march forward in their quest for residential occupation of the entire buildable watershed (“The Growth Conspiracy”).

There are many unanswered questions regarding the “Lake Whatcom Forest Preserve” proposal, but the one that immediately comes to mind after reading these two articles is: Is it really a good idea for Whatcom County to provide a taxpayer funded amenity to watershed developers in the form of a large, nearby park? Or should we heed the warning of past experience? Experience that has lead to Sudden Valley, Eagle Ridge, Coronado, Agate Heights Estates, and other large, water quality degrading developments.

We’d best consider these questions carefully before moving forward.