Week of October 9, 2024
Week of October 9, 2024
I am a border in Mexico. I am a border in Gaza. I am a child getting shot through a border fence as I play in the sand. I am a word. I am a phosphorous cloud. I am a sprinkling of stars. I am an echocardiogram. I am the smell of a pony. I am a poem with "promises to keep / and miles to go before I sleep." The Skagit River Poetry Foundation's biannual festival Oct. 4-5 at Maple Hall and other venues around La Conner inspired the above paragraph. The festival was attended Friday morning by over...
MOUNT VERNON - The four candidates for two county commissioner seats were tested with a lightning round question-and-answer format during a one-hour Skagit League of Women Voters public forum Monday night. Final grades on their candidacies will be issued by voters after mail-in ballots are returned. A large crowd of close to 100 squeezed into the Skagit PUD's Aqua Room for the briskly paced event, in which opening and closing statements by challengers Richard Brocksmith and Rylee Fleury and...
By Ken Stern OLYMPIA – Four Skagit County organizations won $2.8 million in grants, 5.6% of the $50.3 million the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board awarded for 145 projects across the state to improve habitat for salmon, steelhead and bull trout, the board announced Sept. 30. Almost half ($21.6 million) was funded through the Climate Commitment Act and targeted restoration of shorelines and riverbanks – riparian areas – essential to salmon. Forested riparian areas create...
A jigsaw approach was taken to solve the puzzle that is the old Moore Clark property at a Sept. 30 public forum. Attendees at the three-hour workshop at Maple Hall divided into three breakout rooms to brainstorm and then report to the whole group potential future uses for the former fish food production plant and adjoining parcels in what was once La Conner's bustling south waterfront industrial hub. The consulting team charged with drafting a plan for revitalizing the 4-acre area, which has...
A young team, same old results. La Conner, a longtime state 2B volleyball powerhouse, swept NW2B/1B net rival Concrete in straight sets at Landy James Gym last Thursday. The Lady Braves improved to 7-4 overall and 3-1 in conference action ahead of a Saturday road trip to Forks with its 3-0 home victory over Concrete (4-5), a convincing win marked by solid defense, crisp passing and strong hitting. The final line score was 25-16, 25-10, 25-13 in La Conner's favor. The triumph helped take the...
Unbeaten Lopez Island defeated La Conner 5-1 in an often-physical boys' soccer match at Whittaker Field Friday afternoon. The Lobos, displaying deft passing and a relentless attack, scored the contest's first three goals before Simon Bouwens got La Conner on the scoreboard by booting a line shot past the Lopez keeper less than two minutes before intermission. The visitors, who enjoyed a clear size advantage, added two unanswered goals in the second half. "They're a very good team," La Conner...
La Conner teams came away from an all-day trip to the Olympic Peninsula with a tie and two close, hard-fought defeats in non-conference sports action on Saturday. Freshman Kiana Jenkins scored La Conner’s lone soccer goal to salvage a 1-1 draw at 1A Forks in a back-and-forth matinee battle with the Spartans. With the tie, the Braves’ season mark moved to 3-2-1 going into Tuesday’s non-league home match with 1A Sultan. La Conner was 0-1 in NW2B/1B play entering the week after falling 4-1 in a conference test at Friday Harbor on Oct. 1....
The Museum of Northwest Art will open its latest exhibition on Saturday, Oct. 12: "Peter Millett: Built Forms." Millett, a Seattle-based artist, has been exploring the mystery of common forms in his artwork since the late1970s. Curated by Greg Bell, Built Forms is the first major institutional survey of Millett's work, which spans decades of artistic practice and intentional engagement with forms in space. Millett was born in Evanston, Ill., in 1949 and grew up in the Chicago area. He attended...
"Wick Peth: 'The Original Rodeo Bullfighter' and the History of Rodeo in Skagit County" opens at the Skagit County Historical Museum in La Conner on Oct. 12, with an all-day reception from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. A world-renowned Rodeo Hall of Famer, Peth was a pioneer in professional rodeo bullfighting. He elevated the sport with skill, athleticism, courage and finesse while protecting bull riders. The first rodeo in Skagit County was in the mid-1920s in the field of the Peth Ranch in Bow. Skagit...
More than 12 Northwest breweries will be pouring beer or cider in Maple Hall Saturday during the La Conner Chamber of Commerce's Brew on the Slough. Besides "the best of the region's craft beer scene," the CC Adams Band will be playing. Get started at 3 p.m. by buying a VIP admission at $50 and earning a more intimate tasting experience. General admission is $40, with doors opening at 4 p.m. The Chamber promises "the top names in Northwest brewing," including Boneyard Brewery, Pike Brewery,...
Hayes and Tate Matty and Oliver and Warner Bohnet-Knue clambered on fire trucks while firefighters and EMTs served spaghetti last Saturday at the McLean Road headquarters of all-volunteer Skagit County Fire District 2. Firefighters and volunteers shopped, cooked, served and cleaned up after hundreds of diners during the annual Spaghetti Feed, whose proceeds support the district's work. Every Thursday night at 6:30 pm these brave men and women practice deploying hoses, operating pumps and...
Skagit Fisheries presents the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at the Lincoln Theatre, 712 S. First St., Mount Vernon. The Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group brings the Wild & Scenic Film Festival back with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by the film at 7 p.m. The Film Festival will feature short films that will delight the senses and inform our minds. Manieri Jazz and the Anacortes Public Library present Jazz Second Sunday Series featuring Greta Matassa Quintet at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13, at the Anacortes Public...
The Camano Island Library Friends hosts Robert Dugoni for an author talk 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Camano Center, 606 Arrowhead Road, Camano Island. Dugoni is a recipient of a Nancy Pearl Award for fiction. He penned the Tracey Crosswhite detective series, the David Sloane legal thrillers and the Charles Jenkins espionage series set on Camano Island. His standalone books include “The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell” and “The World Played Chess.” La Conner’s Seaport Books will sell Dugoni’s books, including his latest release...
The world is witnessing the start of year two of slaughters in Palestine. Hamas fighters started the killing Oct. 7, 2023, murdering over 1,200 innocents in their surprise attack. Since then the murder and mayhem has all been under the direction of the Israeli government and completely controlled and manipulated by its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. As horrific as the civilian death count is in Gaza – some 42,000 verified – the vast majority women and children, it is certainly an undercount, including only the found bodies and those...
As a follow up to last week’s editorial (“Let’s vote for president now”), let us call for a series of regional constitutional conventions in order to: (a) Let we the people be heard (b) Avoid anarchy and suppression of voices in the name of law and order (c) Instill hope for democracy to live by example here in the heart of the free world (d) Guarantee representation at the table of all people invested in this country by birth, by naturalization, by labor and by service for the common good. To “get real,” people and powers that...
Thanks for your review of “Arsenic and Old Lace” at the Lincoln Theatre. I just want to offer a clarification on names and dates associated with the play. Written in 1939, the play opened on Broadway in 1941 and was a big hit. Boris Karloff played the murderous brother Jonathan, who in the play keeps getting told by other characters that he looks like Boris Karloff. When Frank Capra prepared to make the movie, he asked for the play’s cast members to be given temporary leave so they could repeat their performances on screen. This was...
To our La Conner Community: To benefit others, the La Conner Kiwanis and the La Conner High School student body are asking for your help please. Together, they are sponsoring a volunteer-based Halloween blood drive on Tuesday, Oct. 29 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Landy James Gym on the school campus (last building on your right). Your donating will absolutely change and preserve a life! Search: bloodworksnw.org, then go to its donor portal and La Conner please. Please call if you have clinical questions: Dorothy, RN, 360-431-9234, or about...
I was so looking forward to learning more about the proposed revitalization of the industrial dead zone at the south end of town. I had submitted my two bits on the town survey and had great expectations. However, the turnout was not impressive and the acoustics in the room seemed to absorb the presenter’s voice. Granted, my hearing is impaired, but others also raised their hands stating they could not hear him. There was no microphone available. Unable to hear, I left. Perhaps I am unfairly comparing this event to the recent one at the...
The La Conner-based Skagit Valley Clean Energy Cooperative has changed its name to Skagit Valley Clean Energy Alliance. Its business structure has also changed. Rather than being a membership-based, non-profit cooperative like REI or Orcas Power, the SVCEA is now a non-profit 501(c)3 charitable organization. The goal of the alliance remains the same as the goal of the cooperative: Accelerate the use of renewable energy, energy conservation and related energy management technologies throughout...
Sunday, Sept. 29 4:15 p.m.: Dog owner unchained – Two loose dogs got in a fight with the caller’s dog. There were no injuries and it’s unknown who is the owner of the other dogs. Young Rd., greater La Conner. Wednesday, Oct. 2 7 p.m.: Law let her out – Caller called to advise that she had been locked behind the marina gates and could not get out. Law responded with a key and was able to open the gate. N. 2nd Street, La Conner. Sunday, Oct. 6 9:56 a.m.: Don’t park here – Reports of a vehicle blocking a fire hydrant at the...
A surprisingly great combination. Use either yams or sweet potatoes. These ingredients are proportioned to cook for two people. Ingredients Thin pork chops, 1 per person Yams, 1 per person Butter, 2 tablespoons Ketchup, 1/4 cup Water, 1/2cup Preparation Heat butter in a cast iron fry pan. Rinse and pat dry the pork chops. Add to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Brown one side, for five minutes, medium low heat. Turn over and season with salt and pepper. Brown second side. Remove from pan...
