Recently, I learned of a group based in Bellingham that is classified by the Southern Policy Law Center as an anti-Muslim hate group. It’s name is the Fortress of Faith.
According to nonprofitfacts.com, the listed address for Fortress of Faith is 2501 Orleans St., Bellingham, WA. 98226. According to Superpages.com, that is the same street address for the Bellingham Baptist Church, which bills itself in that listing as, “The friendliest church in town.”
Click the graphic to access the 8/14/2017 Bellingham City Council Committee of the Whole meeting. Discussion regarding the Pickett Bridge starts at about 2:02:00 on the video.
August 15, 2017 Dena Jensen
At last night’s August 14, 2017 Bellingham City Council meeting, there was a brief discussion which touched on a bit longer discussion held earlier that day at Council’s Committee of the Whole meeting regarding renaming Bellingham’s Pickett Bridge. Council Member April Barker said the issue is being raised due to constituent’s concerns that the name of the bridge “is celebrating a man who has a legacy of pro-slavery and had a strong alliance with the Confederate Army.” In the summer 2015 The Bellingham Herald ran a story saying discussion of renaming of the bridge came forward when Community to Community Development and the Racial Justice Coalition, held a protest of crime-mapping software being considered by the Bellingham Police Department. Pickett Bridge was the site of their protest.
August 13, 2017 Sandy Robson
The August 12, Seattle Times article provided a good report on the recent events surrounding Sarbanand Farms and the tragic death of H-2A farm worker Honesto Silva Ibarra. However, in the article, local public relations guru Gerald Baron took an opportunity to defend Sarbanand Farms, and to hurl accusations at two local organizations which are trying to help the fired and displaced H-2A farm workers. Continue reading
August 11, 2017 Press Release Maru Mora Villalpando
For Immediate Release
August 10 2017
Jail Mailer Promoted a Tax Increase and Construction of a New Jail
It’s time we get the apology that Taylor Shellfish failed to offer when charges were originally brought against their company in September of 2016 for racial discrimination.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) found that former Taylor Shellfish employee Jeremy Daniels was called various racial slurs (noted in the EEOC press release linked to in the post) by his supervisor at Taylor Shellfish (based in Shelton and one of the largest producers of shellfish in the country) and was directed by management to ignore this discrimination. Continue reading
Profile graphic for the NWDC Resistance Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/NWDCResistance/
August 4, 2017 NWDC Resistance
BREAKING: Northwest Detention Center on Lockdown Following Guard Beating of 18-Year-Old
Even attorneys are being turned away from visiting their imprisoned immigrant clients Continue reading
August 1, 2017 Sandy Robson
Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo was a guest on KGMI’s “Saturday Morning Live” (SML) talk radio program, hosted by local Tea Partier, Kris Halterman. Sheriff Elfo was there to discuss the proposed new Whatcom County Jail which would be funded by a sales tax. That sales tax would last for the next thirty years. Continue reading
August 2, 2017 Dena Jensen
On Saturday July 22, 2017 Community to Community Development posted a live-feed of their Family Forum for Community Safety that was held that evening at the Bellingham Public Library.
Near the end of the event, the facilitator, Rosalinda Guillen of Community to Community Devolopment, explained why she was being direct and public with this discussion. She said that people are concerned about the federal government finding ways to impose immigration regulations and to make the county sheriff comply with immigration enforcement. Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo responded, indicating that federal officials had already tried to exert pressure and impose regulations, but that his sheriff’s office had said no and that they would continue to say no to federal mandates. Continue reading
Council Member Todd Donovan brings forward concerns of community members regarding immigration policies at the June 27, 2017 Whatcom County Council Meeting
1:08pm July 4, 2017 Dena Jensen
I am posting this link to a portion of last week’s [June 27 2017, Whatcom] County Council meeting where Council Member Donovan says he is trying to figure out how to procedurally approach addressing an ordinance and concerns people have expressed having to do with how our law enforcement agencies might be interacting with people of the immigrant community. He says that a group of people have brought this to the attention of himself and Council Member Weimer. Continue reading
Click the graphic to access the complete 6/20/2017 letter from the Bellingham City Council to the Whatcom County Council
July 1. 2017 Dena Jensen
On June 27, 2017 the Whatcom County Council’s Special Committee of the Whole (made up of all seven council members) met for an afternoon session to discuss the letter they had been sent by the Bellingham City Council regarding the currently proposed Jail Facility Finance and Use Agreement. I listened to the audio of the meeting and wrote up fairly detailed summaries of the comments and discussions during the meeting that I had posted in the comment section to a Facebook post. I thought I would share that material here to give more people access to the information, since it might come in handy over the next few weeks while the JFFUA is under consideration and the potential looms of a .2% tax to finance a new Whatcom County Jail going on the November 2017 ballot. Here is the link to the audio for that meeting: Special Committee of the Whole PM June 27 2017.mp3
noisy waters northwest 
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