Bellingham has changed forever....

It is a sad day when a place you grew up in (meaning went from puny high schooler to overweight college kid) changes for the worse.

Perhaps a little history lesson is in order first. Imagine for a moment a cool night, misting as it tends to do in late fall and early spring. Classes on campus have finished for the evening and one finds oneself unwilling to do homework or to practice. After calling everyone you know and getting rejected by many of them, you make plans to eat and drink the night away, as was the custom in my household. I'm leaving out the various choices of eateries, because I have one in particular that I feel the need to reminisce about.

Your party meets somewhere downtown for a few drinks...prob the Beaver if you were going anywhere. $3 pitchers of Pabst and no need for smokes since the interior atmosphere of the place was 2nd hand smoke. After you and your friends are good and toasty from too many pitchers, you want food. Where to? Why Casa of course. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the shorthand....that's Casa Que Pasa.You'd walk in...smell the old building combined with smoke from the bar and cooking smells. You might even get a little patchouli stink from the dirty hippies in the corner booths. Regardless of the smells, you knew what you wanted as soon as you walked in.

There were many permutaions to the order. Someone would order the Quesadilla, another the Rancho. But for me, it was the Potato Burrito. PotBur to Nillin. Notice the wording I used. "...it was the Potato Burrito."

YEAH "WAS". Casa Que Pasa is no more. Unpaid taxes, smoking ban violations, etc. I say bullshit. What is Bellingham without it's Potato Burrito? What is Bellingham without those citizens who purposefully disobey the law? Okay, okay....maybe the unpaid taxes is a big deal. If I were the city, I would certainly want that revenue.

BUT THE POTATO BURRITO'S ARE NO MORE. That in and of itself is the most heinous crime against humanity ever seen in the likes of Bellingham. Forget the serial killers and various crazies who pass through on their way from Seattle to Vancover or vice versa. Forget the fact that GP polluted the bay and that a spill from their chlorine tanks would wipe out the city. The citizens (and former ones) need to unite and bring back a Bellingham mainstay. Casa Que Pasa is more than just food to eat. It's a community of people who symbolize all that is good and mellow within the city limits.

A City of 90,000 people should be able to donate $0.50 each to raise the $~40,000 that they owe. Not to mention all the alumni who should be doing well now. (I wish I could include myself in that category) Come on people...put down your various brain-dullers and scrounge under the couch cushions for the necessary donation. I need to know that I can always go back to a place that I hold close to my heart. I need to know that my family has some place to visit while on a roadtrip north from Seattle.

I need to smell the tequila and patchouli and cooking food. For the love of the good and mellow....bring back Casa.