March 2, 2018

The State of our City

This week we shared the State of the City address at Auburn Ave. Theater. A special thank you to those who attended in person and those who either watched via Facebook Live or on our YouTube live stream. In case you missed it, we have it posted on our YouTube page.

I have committed my next four years as your mayor to encouraging you to find ways to love your city! During the SOTC, I said that my goal was to get you away from “just renting your city.” 

So, I know we have work to do, but for those of you who already have an idea, please share your reasons why you love Auburn. I’ll be sharing your answers each week in our Update. 

Here are the reasons that were provided by some of the audience members:

• Supporting each other!
• Special community events
• The people and support of food banks and Nexus
• Main Street businesses
• The parks and campground
• Wetland birds
• The caring people
• City staff
• The Auburn Examiner
• Auburn golf course
• The Mayor
• Kids Day
• Our people
• Our Mayor's passion and love for the city
• Veterans Day Parade
• The public art
• Support for veterans
• Huge senior center
• The park across from golf course, no needles
• The art
• Community support for everyone
• Veterans Day parade
• Our awesome mayor!!
• The Quarters
• Great schools
• The parks
• Local businesses
• Love the people!!
• The people
• It's home. Love the parks, the people, the connectedness
• ALOT, the view, the caring from City Hall, the location
• People
• Our sense of community
• The warm hearts of the residents and the organizations that support it
• The amazing sense of camaraderie
• Our residents
• The diversity in terrain
• Small town feel
• Independence Day at Les Gove Park
• Great schools
• The Parks
• Intimate fellowship with the tribe
• The Auburn Ave Theater
• The people
• Passion for city

“Be strong when you are weak, brave when you are scared, and humble when you are victorious.”
                -Anonymous

A Voice For Those Who Cannot Speak

By Councilmember John Holman

One of the jobs I have been given as a city council member with a law enforcement background is to serve on the Washington State Forensics Investigations Council.  This 13 member board oversees the state bureau of forensic laboratory services and establish policies. The council also studies and recommends cost-efficient improvements to the death investigation system and reports its findings to the legislature. The chair of this board is Whatcom County Prosecutor, David S. McEachran. The board is composed of elected officials, coroners, medical examiners, a county sheriff, a chief of police, pathologists, prosecutors, and a defense attorney.

At the conclusion of our meeting last month, Mr. McEachran shared the story of a brutal homicide from November of 1989. The case had remained unsolved for 28 years.

Mandy Stavik was a bright, vivacious, 18-year-old freshman attending Central Washington University. She had come home to spend Thanksgiving with her family. Home was in Acme, Washington, about 40 minutes east of Bellingham, along the Nooksack River. Acme is an small, idyllic town of less than 250 people in rural Whatcom County.

On November 24, 1989 Mandy went jogging with her dog. Several hours later the dog returned without her. Mandy’s family reported her missing. Three days later Mandy’s body was found in the Nooksack River. Mandy had been raped and strangled.

Hundreds of pieces of potential evidence were collected, processed and followed up on. In the 28 years since her murder, hundreds of leads emerged and systematically investigated. Over the past decades, the community was repeatedly asked for assistance in solving this brutal case. The investigative trail was followed locally, in other states and even foreign countries. All dead ends.

Among potential suspects that emerged over the years, was Timothy Forest Bass, now age 50, of Everson. At the time of Mandy’s murder, Bass lived on Strand Road not far from Mandy’s residence. A co-worker of Bass obtained a soda pop can Bass had drank from and gave it to detectives.

Investigators forwarded DNA samples from the can to the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory. The crime lab reported that the DNA from the can matched the DNA recovered from Mandy’s body in 1989. The DNA matching methodology used today by forensic scientists was able to give a voice to Mandy so that she could finally confront her killer.

Bass was arrested by Whatcom county sheriff’s office detectives on December 12, 2017, on suspicion of the first degree murder, first degree kidnapping and first degree rape of Mandy Stavik.