Last weekend my friend and I borrowed his girlfriend’s car to do a bit of local exploration: Whatcom County style.  We headed out through Nooksack and onto South Pass Road, stuffed $2 into can in trade for a bag local hazelnuts, toddled around Silver Lake and completed our journey with a pint at the North Fork Brewery.  Whatcom County you are an outstanding place – you keep it rural, you keep it clean, you keep it wide open and green.  I found myself fast forwarding 30 years and considering, for a moment, how different this same trip might look.   Are we doing a good job of preserving this place?

Well… the good news is we can be.  Good jobs take good leadership; good leadership takes commitment, and somewhere in there you have to spice it up with thankless appreciation, unpaid service, proven experience and above all a curious mind and good heart.  To help lead Whatcom County you need to prove that you understand and support the ideals of smarter growth, farmland preservation, a commitment to environmental quality and a strong local economy. These ideas are unique in a place like Whatcom County.

Ken Mann represents these ideals and provides me with confidence that Whatcom County will grow stronger.  We need Ken Mann on County Council, vote.

Nick Hartrich
Bellingham, Wash.