Please vote in this primary election / Facebook post, Sj Robson

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10:04pm  July 23, 2017  Sandy Robson

Please vote in this primary election, and remind your family, friends and neighbors to vote too. If you live in Bellingham, when you vote for the City Council At-Large position, please vote for either Jean Layton or Roxanne Murphy. The Republican candidate running against them is Eric Bostrom.  [Eric Bostrom has been broadcasting hate speech on the streets of Bellingham for years and is now a candidate for office who is endorsed and supported financially by the Whatcom Republican Party.] Continue reading →

City Council Member responses to the idea of changing the name of Pickett Bridge / Facebook Post, Noisy Waters Norhtwest

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July 25, 2017  Dena Jensen
I encourage people to read this opinion piece in The Western Front by Suzanna Leung, and take a look at the chart of Bellingham City Council Member responses to the idea of changing the name of Pickett Bridge, which is named for a Confederate General who, according to historian Leslie Gordon “was appalled by the notion of freeing slaves and arming black men to fight.”

Continue reading →

County Council is uninformed on community concerns about immigration policies at 6/27/17 Whatcom County Council Meeting / Facebook post, Noisy Waters Northwest

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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 →

Accounting of the 6/27/17 afternoon Whatcom County Council Special Committee of the Whole RE: the jail agreement / Noisy Waters Northwest

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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

Continue reading →

6/13/2017 Public Hearing “to gather comments on the sizing of a proposed new jail in Whatcom County” / Facebook post, Noisy Waters Northwest

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June 8, 2017  Dena Jensen

At the Public Hearing at next week’s County Council Meeting on Tuesday June 13 at 7 p.m. (rally at 6:00 beforehand), it seems our comments on jail bed numbers (the number of people we envision being incarcerated in our county in the future) need to be based on all the best statistical data we have in our private-citizen hands that supports that we now have all the tools at our disposal, and will continue to have more, that will allow a reduction in the number of people we are incarcerating and that we are ready to begin a new age that abandons our failed justice system. Continue reading →

The “Illusion of Inclusion” series of reports on the Whatcom County Jail / NorthwestCitizen, Juliette Daniels

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Click this graphic to go to the search results page on NorthwestCitizen where you can access any of these reports.

Keep reading this series of reports on NorthwestCitizen to get an in-depth look at the history of the plan for a horizontal mega-jail. The next installment after those shown in this screenshot of search results for “Illusion of Inclusion” on NorthwestCitizen is also available on their website (it has a slightly different title). Continue reading →

Is Skagit County’s Sr. Deputy Prosecutor Honea spreading rumors about Swinomish leadership? / Noisy Waters Northwest, Dena Jensen

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May 29, 2017: This article has been updated at the conclusion of the original post with additional information about material attributed to Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Chairman Brian Cladoosby and used out of context by Skagit County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney William Honea and KGMI conservative radio show host Kris Halterman.

May 22, 2017  Dena Jensen

Skagit County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney William Honea said in one of his May 22, 2017 comments on a Facebook comment thread: “…Swinomish, which represents 0.4% of the [Skagit] County’s population, is claiming superior jurisdiction over much of the land base, and its leadership is talking about how great it will be when everyone else leaves. Can you blame the people at Willman’s lecture for being a little freaked out?”   Continue reading →

Anti-Indian Leader Comes to Skagit County, Rally Called to Support Tribal Rights / Press Release, Redline Salish Sea and IREHR

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CERA board member Elaine Willman speaking at the September 26, 2015 CERA “Regional Education Conference” held at the Red Lion Hotel in Kalispell, MT

May 19, 2017  Redline Salish Sea and Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights (IREHR)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A leading national anti-Indian activist is headed to Skagit County – and supporters of tribal and human rights are rallying to expose her bigotry and stand with Indian Nations. Elaine Willman will speak Saturday, May 20th at a meeting in Sedro Woolley hosted by the Skagit County Citizens Alliance for Property Rights. The Skagit County Republican Party and KGMI radio host Kris Halterman are also promoting the event.   Continue reading →

Big New Jail Not the Solution / NorthwestCitizen, Guest writer, Amy Glasser

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Mar 01, 2017   Amy Glasser

Amy Glasser guest writes this article.

I have recently declared my intention to run for a seat on the Whatcom County Council. One of the issues motivating me is that 55% of Whatcom County’s budget is comprised of “Law and Order” dollars and there seems to be a continuing push by some county officials to build a “mega-jail” even though it has been rejected by citizen referendum. Continue reading →

Undocumented Leaders React to Governor Inslee’s Executive Order / Press Release, Grassroots undocumented led communities

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February 23, 2017  Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Maru Mora Villalpando
FEBRUARY 2017
Undocumented Leaders React to Governor Inslee’s Executive Order
Accountability is still required to fulfill the promise of a hate-free state.

Tacoma, WA- We the grassroots undocumented led communities that worked with Senator Lisa Wellman in building a new process for introducing public policy in Olympia, want to thank Sen Wellman for listening to our voices and drafting language with us that would have provided a sense of dignity and protection from federal immigration enforcement by ending their collaboration with local law enforcement departments. Continue reading →