We won round one! That's definitely something to celebrate, but as most now know, our opponent has appealed the Whatcom County hearing examiner's decision to deny the conditional use permit and cancel the hearing.
Back to battle we go, this time before Whatcom County council on Jan. 13. There are three ways that could go: Council could uphold the hearing examiner's decision; it could find in favour of the appellant; or it could send the issue back to the hearing examiner for a hearing. Clearly, we are hoping for the first outcome and to that end, have engaged the attorney who crafted the round one win to answer the appeal.
In the event the radio station loses, it can still appeal the decision in Washington State Superior Court and beyond.
Why it continues to pursue the Point Roberts location, given the hearing examiner pointed out there are nearly 300,000 other acres in Whatcom County to choose from that don't have height restrictions, is a mystery. But, pursue it the station does. And we will continue to do everything we can to stop it.
This is a time for celebration but not to become complacent. We still want the FCC to deny the station's licence renewal and to achieve that, we will need to keep the issue front and centre among our communities and elected officials. More pressure on the Canadian government to intervene on behalf of Tsawwassen, more of our elected officials showing their commitment to their constituents. It is also important to note the recent actions by the CRTC to stop pirate radio does not keep BBC Broadcasting from building its towers in Point Roberts. The owner has already made it clear he intends to build the towers regardless of what happens to Sher-E-Punjab, the Richmondbased content provider. He plans to lease the towers to someone else, if it comes to that.
We still have an urgent need to complete the funding of our legal efforts. We estimate we need US $35,000 to pay for what we've achieved so far and to get us through the county council appeal in January.
We have a $500 Challenge going - if 150 people, groups or companies donate $500 each, we can complete the funding drive. Our thanks to the 23 people who have stepped up so far. We are hoping to finish the challenge and hold several fundraising events, including one this weekend.
Come to the Party at the Point at Kiniski's Reef Tavern this Saturday (6 to 10 p.m.) to toast our success and to help continue raising money for the legal fund.
There will be a raffle for a 55-inch Panasonic 3D TV ($25 per ticket, only 200 printed), live entertainment by Tony Barton and Friends, plus lots of other raffle items and fun.
This is a great chance for all of us to say thank you to our volunteers and multitude of supporters and for you to ensure we have the funds we need to get the "win."
Jennifer Urquhart is the treasurer of the Cross-Border Coalition to Stop the Radio Towers.
