Community Voices
Listen, and support Indigenous voices
Commentary: Knowledge and awareness of the challenges Indigenous peoples face are good; what matters is action.
Claims about Nooksack water rights must meet fact test
Commentary: Collaboration is the only way to solve the twin problems of too little water at one time, too much at another, in the Nooksack Basin.
Council votes to create Racial Equity Commission: reflections of a post-modern revolutionary
Commentary: A Whatcom County Council vote established a racial equity commission; now, the challenge for supporters is to engage others in the conversation, an organizer writes.
Economic mobility starts at birth
Commentary: Even though everyone wants to give their children more and better opportunities than they had, the deck is stacked in favor of babies born to families steeped in “social capital.”
Understanding water rights adjudication
Commentary: Recent letters to editors and from local officials demonstrate misunderstanding of “water rights adjudication.”
‘I was one of the lucky ones’
Commentary: On the verge of homelessness at a crucial time, Jack Westford considers himself to be “one of the lucky ones.”
Vote Yes for Our Library
Commentary: With the current San Juan Island Library building bursting at the seams, some islanders are urging votes in favor of a bond to pay for an upgrade.
Sitting silently does nothing for island ferry service
Commentary: Inaction on ferry service issues guarantees that what we know is bad will almost inevitably get worse.
A word about property rights and freedom
Commentary: Government, in balancing the peace, health and economic welfare of the people, has an interest when it comes to private property rights.
From surviving to thriving — with help
A transformation from homeless heroin addict to thriving college graduate and co-occurring disorder specialist was made with help along the way.
Collaborate, adjudicate to settle Nooksack water issues
Summer streamflows in the Nooksack Basin have been declining for decades, while the need for irrigation water grows as summers get hotter and rainfall diminishes.
‘Be the Bridge’: RUN-Lynden marks 2nd anniversary of March for Black Lives
Racial Unity Now-Lynden’s approach of addressing racism under a Christian framework may indeed “be the bridge” for community engagement.
A twisted path to homelessness
A community resident finds herself without long-term housing after a downward spiral into homelessness.
Hope on the horizon
Despite a difficult start to a difficult life, a woman in her 60s looks forward to finding housing — and reconnecting with family.
Who are the homeless?
Our concept of the “deserving poor” needs to expand past attitudes mirroring 17th and 18th century mores that drive today’s ambivalent response to homelessness.
Raising awareness of missing, murdered Indigenous women
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day is observed on May 5, and in an installation at the Lightcatcher Building through May 15.