THE GRISTLE P.04 + IMAGINE YOUR STORY P.09 + BIZ BRIEFS P.2 1 c a s c a d i a REPORTING FROM THE HEART OF CASCADIA WHATCOM*SKAGIT*SURROUNDING AREAS 06-10-2020 • ISSUE: 24 • V.15 VIRTUAL OPEN FOR BUSINESS SUMMER A restaurant roundup P.22 Elizabeth Park Concert Series P.14 NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE Movies for the movement P.15 LEAVING A LEGACY HONORING THE HEREDITARY CHIEF OF LUMMI NATION P.08 SPRING FLING Shelter in place with FishBoy P.09 THISWEEK 22 Contact Cascadia Weekly: FOOD 360.647.8200 mail TOC LETTERS STAFF Advertising 16 Sales Manager: Stephanie Young ext 1 B-BOARD sales@ cascadiaweekly.com 14 Editorial FILM Editor & Publisher: Tim Johnson ext 3 13 editor@ cascadiaweekly.com MUSIC Arts & Entertainment Editor: Amy Kepferle 12 ext 2 calendar@ ART cascadiaweekly.com Music Editor: 11 Carey Ross music@ STAGE cascadiaweekly.com Production 10 Art Director: Jesse Kinsman GET OUT jesse@ kinsmancreative.com Design: 8 Bill Kamphausen Views & News Advertising Design: WORDS Roman Komarov 02: Mailbag roman@ cascadiaweekly.com 6 O3: Biz Briefs Send all advertising materials to 04: Gristle and Rhodes [email protected] EIGHT CAN’T WAIT POLICE REFORMS NEEDED I’m glad Whatcom County Prosecutor Eric The time to change our approach to commu- 06: Last week’s news CURRENTS Distribution Richey believes, “A knee to the throat is not an nity safety is now. 07: Fuzz Buzz, 52 Women Distribution Manager: 4 approved technique for law enforcement in any The Bellingham Police Department has repeat- Erik Burge jurisdiction in the United States.” edly hired violent, abusive men to police our com- distribution@ VIEWS Arts & Life cascadiaweekly.com Does law enforcement in Whatcom County know munities. It would be nice to think that this was that? The Bellingham Police Department Use of just an accident, or “a string of bad luck” as Police #Recreate Responsibly 08: Whatcom: Erik Burge, 4 2 Stephanie Simms Force policy includes “300.3.4 Vascular Neck Re- Chief David Doll called it. But what we can see 09: Art for the end straint” and while no knees are mentioned, re- clearly is that this is an institutional problem. MAIL MAIL Skagit: Linda Brown, 10: Save Our Stages! Barb Murdoch moving that section and explicitly prohibiting all Police departments all over the country have chokeholds and strangleholds would clarify things. operated for decades as institutions that em- Letters Rear End SEND LETTERS TO LETTERS@ Based on data analyzed by Campaign Zero, power racists and misogynists, facilitate sys- 06.10.20 12: Sudoku, Comix CASCADIAWEEKLY.COM there are eight policies that can significantly temic racism and violence, and cause real harm decrease police violence including banning neck and trauma to people. Crossword BIZ BRIEFS P.03 + THE GRISTLE P.04 + FUZZ BUZZ P.07 13: c a s c a d i a .15 REPORTING FROM THE HEART OF CASCADIA WHATCOM*SKAGIT*SURROUNDING AREAS restraints. A systemic problem does not mean you just 05-2-2020 • ISSUE: 22 • V.15 24 # 14: Free Will Astrology If the Whatcom Prosecutor, Whatcom Execu- have a few problems in the system. It means that #RECREATERESPONSIBLY 15: Food Not Lawns A staycation summer P.09 tive Satpal Sidhu, Bellingham Mayor Seth Fleet- even if we ridded our police department of vio- wood, and Chief David Doll want to live up to lent, corrupt and abusive officers, we would still ©2020 CASCADIA WEEKLY (ISSN 1931-3292) is published each Wednesday by their statements, they should immediately adopt see violence in our community. The problem is SPRING ACTION FLING ALERT Shelter in place Save Our Cascadia Newspaper Company LLC. Direct all correspondence to: Cascadia with FishBoy Staes! P.10 P.09 all eight policies at 8CantWait.org to reduce po- the system. Weekly PO Box 2833 Bellingham WA 98227-2833 | Phone/Fax: 360.647.8200 [email protected] AVANT GARDENING Foo Not Lawns P.15 lice violence and save lives. A critical reexamination of the Bellingham Though Cascadia Weekly is distributed free, please take just one copy. Cascadia SPRING FLING Shelter in place Weekly may be distributed only by authorized distributors. Any person removing with FishBoy P.09 CASCADIA WEEKLY I would also encourage anyone who was hor- Police Department’s role in our community is papers in bulk from our distribution points risks prosecution COVER: Photo courtesy SUBMISSIONS: Cascadia Weekly welcomes freelance submissions. Send mate- of Anacortes Kayak rified by the law enforcement murder of George disturbing. We can see our institution is not im- 2 rial to either the News Editor or A&E Editor. Manuscripts will be returned if you Tours. Floyd, the police killing of Breonna Taylor, the mune to this systemic corruption and violence. include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. To be considered for calendar list- ings, notice of events must be received in writing no later than noon Wednes- police brutality endured by Rodney King caught Our government has allowed positions of power day the week prior to publication. Photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by stamped, self-addressed envelope. on video 29 years ago, or any of the other racist to be coopted and exploited by violent, abusive assaults committed in our country to write these men. Not once, not twice, but three times in the elected officials to take action consistent with last few years Bellingham Police officers have their words—and to vote. been charged with appallingly violent crimes and —Lee Che Leong, Bellingham forced to leave the department because of their violent behavior. The city has even had coherent action plan to make some sort to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars of meaningful change for the future. in lawsuits because of these officers’ Instead, Trump has continued his actions. It’s worth noting, too, that in campaign of blatant propagandistic multiple incidences the violence was self-promotion, divisive rhetoric, and targeted at women. Tweet storms completely unhinged from What makes this even worse, the reality. He has managed to shred the 22 police officers’ union, the Bellingham last bit of dignity and accountability Police Guild (BPG), has shown a seri- the office of the U.S. President may FOOD ous lack of judgement in response to have had in the world. LOST YOUR these incidents. The Guild has repeat- Just when it seems impossible for him 16 edly defended these crooked officers, to reach a new low he outdoes himself advocating for their continued pay yet again, attacking anyone and every- HEALTH and even after they were found guilt one who doesn’t enable his megaloma- B-BOARD of serious crimes, BPG asked that they niacal agenda. INSURANCE? be allowed to work as police officers The prospect of four more years of im- 14 again. Any politician who has treated potent Trumpian agendas, nationalistic GET FREE HELP FILM the BPG as an organization with in- inward retreat, total loss of respect on tegrity should be scrutinized. This the global stage, and historic disen- BY PHONE! 13 malpractice on behalf of the police de- franchisement is not a viable future. partment and the officers’ union calls Whether Trump and his “Yes Men” like it for a check on their power. or not, America’s electorate is becoming MUSIC Every year, we give the police de- more diverse. 12 partment millions of dollars. And It’s beyond time some of our elect- we keep giving them more and more ed leaders reflect the diversity of this ART Unity Care NW’s Outreach and Enrollment staff offer free help money. BPD’s salaries and wages have country and lead the local, state and by phone to any Whatcom County resident needing to find 11 increased 26 percent in the last five federal governments with competency, years amidst continued abuses of pow- accountability and integrity. health insurance. Call (360) 788-2669 or visit bit.ly/3bBx8qs er. Their total annual budget has in- With each new historically bad de- STAGE creased $7 million dollars in five years cision Trump makes, I think it’s easy 10 to a total of $34 million. That’s almost to feel like there’s no recourse to stop $100,000 every day. him. But there is. The best action I can Have our communities become dra- think to take is to vote Trump out of BELLINGHAM • FERNDALE • UnityCareNW.org GET OUT matically safer? Have our crime rates office in November. gone down significantly? Have we As a millennial I am hoping that my 8 solved more crimes? Are police officers peers will also get out and vote no—no being harmed any less? The data shows to incompetence, no to the man that that unfortunately the answer to these has ushered this country into historic Bellingham/Whatcom Co. WORDS questions is simply “no.” levels of divisiveness, and no to four Professional Firefighters This is not a problem that can sim- more years of the destruction and chaos 6 ply be reformed with a few inter-de- that is the Trump administration. IAFF Local 106 partmental policy changes. So, I ask, The young and diverse generations of amidst a biennial budget season, a this country will be the ones who have CURRENTS BPG contract renewal, and a moment to dig ourselves out of the immense 4 of disrupted revenue, please consider and regressive hole this Administration Your union firefighters appreciate reallocating funds from the Belling- has taken this country into. Vote NO to VIEWS ham Police Department to programs Trump in November to salvage what is ALL workers keeping our 4 that will yield results for our commu- left of American democracy.