Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Sorted by date Results 485 - 509 of 1887
Marilynn Olson (at the head of the table) was feted for her 80th birthday last Wednesday by fellow crafters – they proudly call themselves the Stitch & Bitch Club – with lunch, a party and cake on The Slider Café patio. "We started out stitching and bitching," the guest of honor quipped, "but now we eat and laugh." Joining in the fun were, clockwise: Marilynn Olson, Gwyn Beckwith, Joan Scarboro, Bobbie Arthur, Jan Paul, Cathy Brosnan, Barb Hammer (back to camera), Patty Snider, Ruth Braun, Jean...
Beset with declining student enrollment and the loss of federal emergency pandemic funding, La Conner Schools officials are bracing to adopt what finance chief David Cram has termed a “bare bones” budget July 31. A 9 a.m. public hearing in the campus administration building precedes the vote. The fiscal plan is designed to rebuild the district’s dwindling fund balance, shrunk in large measure by reduced state financial support resulting from a decreased student population. But it comes at the cost of painful personnel cuts across the board...
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community is one of two tribes in the state that will receive $500,000 grants to secure high-speed, affordable internet service. The Swinomish and Makah Tribes each received grants through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced Friday. “This award,” Cantwell said, “will help the Swinomish and Makah Tribes plan out and build broadband infrastructure so that over 300 more tribal households can access telehealth appointments, remote learning and oth...
The plight of independent community newspapers has become a national story. And last week that story's dateline was LA CONNER, WA. A five-minute segment crafted by Jeanie Lindsay, statehouse reporter for KUOW Public Radio and the Northwest News Network, chronicling the struggles of newspapers in small towns focused on efforts by Weekly News publisher Ken Stern to find a buyer for the paper he purchased six years ago. It was heard nationally. Stern received a phone call Thursday from a "between...
Hector Soltero has made countless deliveries in La Conner during his years as a United Parcel Service driver. Now it is his turn to be on the receiving end. And in a big way. The La Conner Town Council unanimously approved a resolution July 11 honoring Soltero and expressing appreciation for the outstanding service he provides to his La Conner area customers. "He's well loved by everybody in town," Councilmember Rick Dole said in proposing the resolution. "He's just a joy to be around." Council...
Tiny houses were a big topic at the La Conner Town Planning Commission meeting July 18. Planning Director Michael Davolio shared a revised draft proposal that would amend Town regulations to allow high density residential development as a conditional use with commissioners at their hybrid meeting in Maple Hall. The amendment is in response to developer Greg Ellis wanting to site 44 tiny home units on Whatcom and Washington streets behind Pioneer Market. It will be considered separately. He said he will continue tweaking the draft proposal and o...
When given a real-world assignment last school year, La Conner High School students nailed it. Both literally and figuratively. The school’s construction class, taught by Daniel Castillo, built a tiny house as part of career and technology curriculum and the finished product was recently delivered to the tiny home village on Pease Road in Burlington. Burlington Mayor Steve Sexton and representatives of the Low Income Housing Institute, which paid for the materials used on the project, were present when the student-built house arrived. “My onl...
La Conner High School championship volleyball coach Suzanne Marble, a member of two separate state-level halls of fame, is about to add another honor to a thick resume. Having retired after 30 years from the coaching ranks and on a leave of absence, Marble will receive the 2023 Skagit County Pioneer Association Spirit Award. She will be recognized Aug. 3 during the business meeting segment of the 119th annual Skagit County Pioneer Picnic in La Conner. Marble led teams to seven state crowns – a likely eighth title was denied when COVID-19 forced...
Because it’s never too soon to prepare for the future, La Conner Town Council invested an hour in a special session last week studying factors and strategies that could define La Conner decades from now. The 60-minute hybrid meeting, which featured online commentary from Seattle-based consultants, was a down payment of sorts ahead of a daylong July 24 council retreat. The topics discussed and identified as either community strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats (SWOT) – some of which overlapped into more than one category – were...
It took a do-over, but the La Conner Town Council last week approved an infrastructure improvements plan for the construction site of a three-story, 19-unit condominium building on Center Street. The unanimous action – though some of the “aye” votes were barely audible – came during a special session in the Maple Hall’s Fireside Room Thursday morning and allows staff to begin a review process needed for project modifications. A motion by Councilmember Rick Dole seeking approval for the infrastructure plan died for lack of a second July 11....
Patriotism, matching the hot weather, was at a feverish pitch this July 4. But not everyone had a bang on Independence Day – or in the days leading up to and following the holiday. For La Conner area firefighters, already grappling with extended dry and windy conditions, fireworks activity lost some of its pizzaz. Their enthusiasm was dampened by the number of fireworks-related fires to which they responded. In fact, Skagit County Fire District 13 staff, which serves Swinomish Reservation and rural La Conner, are now suggesting limiting the l...
A time-honored adage says no job is finished until the paperwork is done. For the Town of La Conner Parks Commission, the reverse is true when it comes to installing a much-anticipated pavilion at Conner Waterfront Park. The pavilion project, on the drawing board for several years, has received approvals for both shoreline and building permits. Now, it’s just a matter of working out final details with the public works department and reaching a consensus as to exactly where at the park the structure should be located. “The pavilion is going to...
The grass, they say, is always greener on the other side. In the case of C.J. Woods, that is even true of the Arizona desert. Woods, the youthful and personable La Conner High School boys’ head basketball coach and athletics director, has stepped down to assume a similar dual position at Chinle High School, which boasts top-flight sports facilities. The Apache County, Arizona school is the subject of an acclaimed Netflix documentary. “It’s a really bittersweet feeling,” Woods, 28, who last winter led the underdog Braves to a Northwest 2B Bi-D...
Summer school is all about enhancing student performance. And at La Conner Schools, student performance comes in multiple ways, shapes and forms and is not limited to pencil and paper drills. Elementary school pupils provided a perfect example Thursday afternoon, presenting a rendition of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" before a standing room-only audience of proud family members and friends. Superintendent Will Nelson and Braves Club Director Marlene Brenton attended. They crafted the...
Folks are asking what's going on at the former COA Mexican Eatery at Maple and Washington. Town of La Conner officials are wondering as well. Unspecified renovations are under way at the building, which was transported to the site in the 1970s as the new Joe's Drive-In when that business outgrew its original venue at Maple and Talbott. The Town Planning Department wants to contact property owners Adrian and Ruth Ibarra to learn their intentions for the structure since it has been vacant and may...
With the last name Holmes, it was only natural that he entered law enforcement. And with interests in boating and basketball and a knack for building relationships, the La Conner detachment office seems an ideal assignment for veteran Skagit County Sheriff's Sgt. Brad Holmes. Holmes, who has worked nearly a quarter-century in a wide range of police services, has succeeded retired Sgt. Beau Montgomery as lead officer in La Conner. "I put in for La Conner a while ago," Holmes, who has an...
onner resident Linda Talman has crafted an enduring legacy through long service on the Town's planning commission, tireless advocacy of open government and access to public records and support for retention of local green spaces and creation of non-motorized transportation options. Now that legacy might also be linked to something not of her choosing. In an ironic twist, the infrastructure improvement plan submitted for the 19-unit condo building proposed for 306 Center Street that Talman has...
Home-grown talent Matika Wilbur has spent years traveling the country to exhibit her critically acclaimed photography and compile narratives for her ground-breaking book "Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America." But last Thursday afternoon her happy place was Gilkey Square in La Conner. Wilbur exchanged laughter and shared fond memories with a steady stream of local admirers, who included civic leaders, fellow artisans and retired teachers and school administrators, during an...
As has been the case for more than a century, history comes alive in La Conner this summer. The 119th annual Skagit County Pioneer Association Picnic and General Meeting will be 11 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 3, at Pioneer Park near the Rainbow Bridge. The time-honored event promises something for persons of all ages, especially those interested in Skagit County and its rich history. There will be live music on the grounds provided by John Anderson and Friends, historic photographs and biographical accounts displayed for this year’s Pioneer Family o...
At times shrouded in mystery after its closure in the early 1970s, Northern State Hospital and its unique history will be revisited during a July 29 public program at the former mental health facility's campus four miles northeast of Sedro-Woolley. The daylong event (10 a.m.-4 p.m.) invites those attending to share memories, scan photos, take self-guided tours and listen to stories and reminiscences of former employes and family members of Northern State. The program, billed as a "public history...
Nothing in life is perfect, but the annual July Fourth Parade in La Conner Tuesday came close. The weather, which more than once has been wet and chilly here on Independence Day – hence, the local adage that summer starts on July 5 – was sunny and warm for an eclectic blend of patriotic-clad entrants and spectators lining the length of First Street for the 20-minute celebration. So good was the parade honoring America’s 247th birthday and formal separation from Great Britain that those resid...
The Fourth of July parade in La Conner always has something for everyone and often makes memories to last a lifetime. Yet few have had as much of a blast at the downtown summer serpentine as the popular "Kazookie" duo of Felicia Value and Gem Tartaglia, who recently bid farewell – reluctantly, of course – to La Conner and are now creating positive notes in the Portland area where they have family and friends of longstanding. Regular parade-goers fondly recall Value and Tartaglia playing pat...
La Conner School Board President Susie Deyo called the panel’s annual six-hour retreat last Wednesday an opportunity for reflection. It was also a time to look ahead. And while the view going forward can be murky at best, board members and school officials – like their peers in districts across the state – anticipate seeing an upcoming academic year fraught with tough fiscal challenges. Finance Director David Cram, just four months into his second tour with the district, outlined a proposed budget designed to salvage a $110,000 fund balance in...
Give peace a chance was a popular refrain coined in 1969 by John Lennon. Now, La Conner’s Ollie Iversen has put a new spin on Lennon’s famous anthem of the anti-war movement. Iverson’s version is “Give Pisces a Chance.” Pisces is the zodiac sign symbolized by fish. La Conner Waterfront Park is noted for its fish slide sculpture created by the late artist and salmon advocate Tom Jay. In an impassioned plea to the La Conner Town Council at its June 27 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall, Iversen convinced the panel to reverse its earlier decision...
The La Conner Emergency Management Commission is wading through short-term options to mitigate flood threats on the La Conner waterfront and in low-lying residential neighborhoods, embracing a multi-tiered plan of attack ahead of next winter’s king tides. The Town is in contact with the Upper Skagit Tribe to secure permission for placement of flood barriers on its south-end property between Caledonia and Sherman streets. A walking tour led by Public Works Director Brian Lease to strategize barrier placements on La Conner’s north end, has bee...
