I’m all for Bellingham being a ‘Sanctuary City’… that is, if it’s a sanctuary that offers me protection from parking tickets. I got one yesterday, after I parked for 2 minutes to jump out and snap a photo. When I returned, there were not one, but TWO ‘meter maid’ little 3-wheel scooter-cars zooming away from the area. LAME.

But, in all seriousness, am I missing something on this sanctuary city issue? Since when do certain cities choose to disregard certain laws — federal-level laws — as they see fit? What if Bellingham became a ’sanctuary city’ for pot smokers? Shouldn’t it be illegal for a city to say it won’t enforce the laws of the land?

Furthermore, the Bellingham City Council would never, NEVER hold a “Public Discussion” on a conservative-generated issue. With even more certainty, I can say the current city council would never, NEVER EVER approve a resolution that supported a conservative viewpoint (let’s say, for instance, one that encouraged business in the community).

Read what the local Republicans have to say here: http://www.whatcomgop.com/

Now, so you can be informed, go read what the other side is saying: http://www.sanctuary-city.org/

I trust you’ll see, upon visiting their site, how little sense this whole idea makes.

Remember all the controversy over an environment-killing and neighborhood-destroying co-gen facility at BP Cherry Point?

Remember the brouhaha over the SE-2 proposal that would have undoubtedly sent many to their graves by spewing thick clouds of acrid toxins into the local airshed?

I remember, and yesterday I learned something about Whatcom County (I pride myself in knowing what’s going on around here).

I found out that the evil, greedy power companies have been running a similar power generation facility near Birch Bay - SINCE 1974!!!

I’m guessing most of you, like myself, never knew a twin-turbine, natural gas-fired, 74-megawatt power plant existed there.

In fact, that’s probably the last thing you’re thinking about on those nice summer days when you bring the kids out to Birch Bay for a big picnic and bonfire.

It really calls into question the over-the-top rhetoric we’ve heard around here for years, every time a power plant is proposed. Just as people seem to be ignorant of where their food comes from, a lot of people also seem to be unable to make the connection between power plants and their daily lives. People don’t realize where electricity comes from.

I’m all for incentives to reduce power consumption and the pollution it unfortunately takes to produce power. But we’ve got to be realistic about where power comes from, and how much we rely on it.

Now that I know that know about PSE’s Whitehorn Facility near Birch Bay, I’ve got to ask: how many people are really bothered by the power plant in our ‘backyard’?

How much horrible environmental destruction has been wrought by the sinister turbines running near Whatcom County’s shores?

And, to reference the scare tactics of the NO SE2 people in the late ’90s, exactly how many people have died because of the generation facility’s emissions?

The bottom line is, no one has died. Birch Bay is still gorgeous. And very few local residents even realize there’s a power plant that’s been there for 35 years.

For those who have been asking — there’s some ‘good’ news for you.

My town is changing. The fact that the Lynden City Council is even considering allowing alcohol sales on Sunday is rather amazing to me. 

For my entire life, Sundays have been - for lack of a better term - sacred in Lynden, with local laws enforcing a weekly Prohibition of sorts, and local residents enforcing a different code, blocking Sunday lawn mowing, Sunday shopping and a variety of other evils that Lynden’s lesser residents often practice to the chagrin of their more traditional neighbors.

Obviously, I’m being a bit sarcastic toward what’s sometimes an overbearing contingent of people that some consider to be Lynden’s moral police. But is the issue moral, or even religious, as many contend?

A lot of Lyndenites cite faith-based Sabbath teachings to support Lynden’s block on Sunday alcohol, and (in years past) it’s opposition to large retail establishments that refuse to close on Sunday. But its not about religion, or at least shouldn’t be, in my mind.

Bellinghamsters routinely mock Lynden’s conservative approach to Sunday business, yet a growing group of Bellingham residents cry foul at any proposal for a ‘big box’ store. Their liberal views and general aversion to religion keep them from seeing they’re actually on the same page with the conservative Lyndenites hoping to preserve their town’s unique character.

The arguments have the same starting point. Both the Bellingham Anti-Big Box crowd and the Lynden ‘Keep Sunday Sacred’ group like their town the way it is - or was - and want to keep it that way.

My points:

1. The Bellingham Anti-Big Box people who mock Lynden’s ‘religious’ opposition to Sunday activities are hypocrites.

2. The Lynden ‘Conservative’ Anti-Sunday Business people are hypocrites as well. Often aligned with a conservative Republican value system, they have no idea how far they stray from the ‘keep government out of my life’ way of thinking when they support government control over when people can open their stores or sell certain things.

At the end of the day, I’m torn. I want to keep Lynden the way it is: small, hopefully friendly, and particularly quiet on Sundays. I even empathize with the ‘liberal’ Bellinghamsters who want to keep their town’s unique character, and allow small, locally-owned business to flourish.

But, I don’t necessarily feel right about allowing government to control which days people do business. My conservative roots say that’s unfair, and that government should keep its paws off businesses, especially small local businesses.

Both Lynden and Bellingham should consider two questions: if we enact laws restricting business, will this send customers elsewhere and hurt the local economy? Similarly, if we don’t restrict business and compromise our town’s character, will we ultimately ruin the unique town that customers came to enjoy in the first place?