As Families Struggle - County Council Spends
Liberty Road attended the Whatcom County Council's, December 6, 2022, evening Council Meeting via Zoom. The reason for attending this meeting was to hear what the attending audience said during public comments on Agenda Item: Ordinance AB2022-688, the newly approved property tax levy known as 'Prop 5.' During the public comment period it was very obvious that the 'Pro' Prop 5 comments were demanding that the Council give final approval and placement on to the Whatcom County Property Taxes as a 'rate-based' tax levy vs the regular order of a 'budget-based' tax levy.
Before I go on with this article it is important that the reader understand the difference between a rate based levy vs a budget based levy.
Councilwoman Carol Frazey Proposes to Restrict Open Public Comments
Liberty Road has received notification of an agenda item on the Tuesday, December 6th, 2022, Whatcom County Council Agenda. The agenda item, if accepted by a majority of the Council, will likely be placed on the January 2023 agenda for final consideration.
If you value your civil right to address the persons elected to represent you and your local issues, please contact the Whatcom County Council to tell them your wishes. The Whatcom County Council are tasked to 'serve the people' of Whatcom County; they are our paid-for, employees to represent the needs of the entire community. How can/will they serve you if they restrict your access to share your concerns and needs?
Carol Frazey and other members of the County Council want to seriously reduce and limit face to face Voter comment to the County Council by shortening individual speaker time by 33% from an already brief 3 minutes to 2 minutes, capping total comments to 30 minutes, and banning any topics that are not on the meeting agenda.
Read more: Councilwoman Carol Frazey Proposes to Restrict Open Public Comments
Dear Auditor . . .
On Monday, November 28th, the Whatcom County Auditor's Office accepted a number of ballots and letters. The ballots accepted on November 28th, put the "Yes for Whatcom Kids," aka Prop 5 special property tax levy, approximately 20 votes over the 60% threshold needed to pass. This event has effectively given it the green light to increase your property tax bill for the next 10-years.
There were a number of private citizens at the Auditor's Office who observed this. One of those observers was Doris Smith. Doris has shared her letter written to WC Auditor, Diana Bradrick, with Liberty Road. Doris' letter publicly expressed her concern about the lack of transparency that she, and others, observed when these ballots/letters were delivered to the Auditor's Office.
The New Congress and the Midterm Vote Investigations
The New Congress and the Midterm Vote Investigations, by Doris Smith
In a press conference this week, Congressmen James Comer and Jim Jordan laid out plans to investigate the Biden family influence peddling scheme—centering their investigation on Joe Biden himself. They also dedicated themselves to investigating the politicization of the Department of Justice which is targeting and suppressing an increasingly mobilized and awakened citizenry, in addition to attempting to eliminate Donald Trump from politics. You can watch that press conference here. I think it is quite engaging!
Additional investigations are targeting the Department of Homeland Security under Alejandro Mayorkas—-both for its open border and support for Mexican drug cartels policies as well as for its efforts to coordinate with Silicon Valley and the White House in suppressing free speech and dissent. This investigation will lay the groundwork for Mayorkas’ impeachment.
Read more: The New Congress and the Midterm Vote Investigations
How To Treat Long COVID
How To Treat Long COVID, by Dean L. Gano, E.J. Ledet & Kris Halterman; November 2022
After the first wave of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, people reported persistent symptoms weeks or months following their SARS-CoV-2 infection. So, what is it, and how can you treat it?
What is it?
According to the World Health Organization, Post COVID-19 condition, also known as long COVID, or long-haulers syndrome occurs in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. In one study 1 of 1.7 million people worldwide they found that: 23% had fatigue; 14% memory problems; 13% shortness of breath; 11% sleep problems; 10% joint pain; 9% concentration, confusion, and brain fog; 8% ea. of anxiety and loss of taste; 7% ea. of cough, depression, hair-loss, loss of smell; and eleven other minor symptoms like headaches and diarrhea.
Early studies in September 2020 reported that 10 to 30 percent of people 2 who were infected have experienced it. As more-and-more people have been vaccinated and contracted COVID-19 the condition has increased. A more recent study 3 in April 2022 reported that more than 43% of those infected with COVID-19 developed at least one long-term symptom with a meantime to the onset symptoms approximately 60 days following infection.
2023 Tax Increases in Whatcom County / Washington State
It has been a long 959 days since the world came to an abrupt halt due to SARS CoV2, aka coronavirus disease of 2019, aka COVID-19. On March 16, 2020, the Governor of Washington State enacted the Emergency Powers Act which he finally relinquished on October 31, 2022 and our state has been returned to a Representative Republic as it should have been throughout this and any emergency. It is my greatest hope that the 2023 legislative session in Olympia will either remove the existing Emergency Powers Act, or revise it to a very limited and defined role that cannot usurp the responsibility of our elected representatives from their consitutional obligation to represent the voters.
So what happened over the ensuing 959 days besides the lockdown, shutdown, and violation of individual civil rights? A plethora of new taxes and regulations which neutured our local law enforcement officers and agencies from protecting your property. We have all been living through the destruction of our public safety because of the 2020 laws which disabled protection and has been the catalyst for a huge surge in crime, drug use, and mental health disorders. But are you aware of all the new TAXES which were passed by our local, state, and federal governments? I am certain there are more than these which I have posted to this article, but it is a good starting point to wake people up that this is a lot more than a latte-per-month, week, or day.
Let us start off with the January 29th, 2008, Whatcom County 10-year plan to end homelessness:
Read more: 2023 Tax Increases in Whatcom County / Washington State
The Land Grab, Flood Dance of Satpal Sidhu
by Doris Smith, October 31, 2022
In a recent meeting in Lynden, October 20, 2022, held for Washington Farm Bureau members who are also local flood-affected citizens, Sidhu said he knows that some people think he should call for emergency dredging of the river, but he says this is not possible and that he doesn’t have the power to do it.
In response, an older farmer said there were two ways to deal with flooding: “water storage” and “dredging,” and that as County Executive this is Sidhu’s responsibility.
In reply to the farmer, Sidhu said dredging was not possible because the experts said so. He exclaimed he was not an expert and must defer to “experts.” To back this up, Sidhu referred to an April 2022 conference in Whatcom County of 50 experts which had concluded that dredging was the wrong thing to do.
When combined with the official Whatcom County government-marketing piece titled “Executive Sidhu: County Remains Committed to Partnership in Cross-Border Flood Planning Efforts,” one discovers what is really intended for Whatcom County residents and why County Executive Sidhu is against dredging. https://www.whatcomcounty.us/3881/Partnership-in-Cross-Border-Flood-Planni>
Term Limits – A Conversation We Need to Have this November
It is political debate season now is the time to have this discussion!
Congressman Rick Larsen has represented western Washington for 11 Terms or 22 years.
When you live West Coast, that is a long time to spend away from your elected homebase and still say you are connected to us. We had a little window into this at the debate held in Whatcom County. The debate question was about supporting the war in Ukraine with more funds. You could tell from the audience response that many were concerned about this spending of our precious tax dollars.
Read more: Term Limits – A Conversation We Need to Have this November
Two Conversations and a Conversation with My Mother
During my travels last week, I had two conversations with two vastly different people.
The first was with a young woman who has just entered the job force. She is pursuing her American dream. A dream that takes her from the desperate circumstances of birth and, through education and a small business employer, allows her to pursue a better life.
From my vantage I can clearly see the steep hill she is climbing. Not unlike the one my great grandfather walked up behind a flock of sheep on the way to homestead land. It took our family four generations to achieve the Great American Dream. I do not think any of us regret the struggle. It has made us who we are, hard working and grateful and not in need of government assistance. This young woman is at the beginning, considering her options. She has a job. She has college debt. She also has government assistance for rent. We had a conversation about the forgiveness of student loans. From her viewpoint this would be a huge help. It would improve her credit rating and put her closer to being able to purchase her own home.
Read more: Two Conversations and a Conversation with My Mother
HEARD AROUND OUR TABLE THE WEEK - June 2022
We in Washington love our coffee. We share our hopes and dreams over coffee. We share family news over coffee. We share the things we have heard that we will not commit to the sterile environs of our social media. It is the single thing we missed the most during lock downs. Even though we had zoom meetings and skype calls, they were not the same.
From time to time, Liberty Road will share with you the things we have heard over our cups of coffee. More than the news media, what we share over our cups of coffee (or tea) indicate how things are really going in our immediate world in real time. We trust this information because it comes from real people we have grown to trust over the years.
Pick up your cup of coffee and join us…..
