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Former La Conner High School state golf title winner Emma Worgum is back on the links after a superb fall freshman season with the Western Washington University women's team. Worgum and the Lady Vikings placed ninth out of 15 teams entered in the spring opener Fujikura Invitational Tournament hosted by Cal State-San Marcos in Vista, CA. earlier in March. Worgum tied for the second best finish on her team and was 40th overall by carding a two-day score of 160, shooting 80 (8 over par) each...
A rare positive impact of the severe saltwater flooding that swamped La Conner in December was the flood of well qualified applicants seeking appointment to the Town’s new emergency management commission. Mayor Ramon Hayes last week nominated five applicants. The Town Council confirmed them during the panel’s March 14 session. They bring extensive histories of public service, meteorology, climatology and engineering. “What a great lineup, this is exciting,” Councilmember Mary Wohleb said following a unanimous vote that empaneled Bill Stokes,...
There were two sure signs at last week's La Conner Town Council meeting that spring is in the offing. The first was the presentation by Skagit Valley Tulip Festival Executive Director Cindy Verge of the official poster, a depiction by artist Kerry Clavadetscher of a Savannah sparrow perched on a favorite tulip. The second was an announce-ment by Town Public Works Director Brian Lease that king tide winter flood protection sandbags will be picked up at the end of the month. The bags have been in...
Sarah Cook was a multiple sports standout at La Conner High School, and she is enjoying similar success as a freshman at Skagit Valley College. After a stellar volleyball season with SVC last fall, Cook joined the Lady Cardinals basketball team and helped Skagit post a 17-12 mark and secure a Northwest Athletic Conference playoff berth. As a result, Cook was a second unit selection to the 2023 NWAC North All-Region Team. She filled the SVC stat sheet much as she did while at La Conner. Cook...
La Conner High School junior Tommy Murdock has picked up where he left off last year. Which is in the winner's circle. Murdock, the reigning Washington state class 2B 300-meter hurdles champion, opened the 2023 track and field season by sweeping two hurdles events in a 10-school invitational meet at Whittaker Field last Wednesday. Murdock captured his signature event, the 300 hurdles, with a 0:42.75 finish. He also took top honors in the 110-meter hurdles, clocking a winning time of 0:16.32. He...
There was a definite chill in the air but the Braves still managed to swing hot bats late in their non-league baseball home game with Northwest Christian Thursday afternoon. La Conner squared its early season mark at 1-1 by scoring five runs in the final two innings to record an 8-7 comeback triumph. Middle infielder C.J. Edwards sparked rallies in the fifth and sixth frames by drawing lead-off walks and coming around to score each time. In the fifth, with La Conner trailing 7-3, Edwards advanced to third when a sharp grounder from Kaleb Otis w...
He may not have realized it at the time, but nearly 70 years ago the late famed Swinomish artisan Andrew Joe began carving a special and lasting niche in the history of La Conner Schools. And it is a part of campus lore and tradition literally and figuratively standing the test of time. It is the life-sized carving of the Native American chieftain fondly known to generations of La Conner students as "Kolidja," now in a secured display area at the entrance to the middle school building. But...
The Slider Café crew got its kicks out of passing the boot on behalf of La Conner Hook & Ladder last weekend. Slider's diners were invited on Saturday and Sunday to toss spare change and extra dollars as donation into La Conner firefighter boots placed near the front counter. When that happened, owner Pat Ball and his staff – all of whom wore tee-shirts bearing the Hook & Ladder logo,with a couple wearing superhero capes – enthusiastically rang bells, blew whistles and led cheers to ackn...
School boards, by their very nature, are tasked with hard choices, tough decisions involving families’ children and money. The La Conner school board last Thursday faced a tough choice of a different kind – whom to select to fill the unexpired term of Swinomish director district representative Amanda Bourgeois, who resigned in February after three years. The decision was hard, board members said afterward, because all three applicants were well qualified. Yet, ironically, it was also an easy assignment, given that the board felt it couldn’t go...
All states, including Washington, provide two statues to the U.S. Capitol. In the near future one of those stone figures gifted by the Evergreen State will bear the image of late Nisqually tribal leader and treaty fishing rights champion Billy Frank, Jr. La Conner Schools recognized Frank with a special program March 7. The two-and-a-half hour public event, billed as the district’s first annual Billy Frank, Jr. Remembrance Fair, was held in the middle school gym and included information booths focused on salmon protection and key chapters in F...
It was an up and down time – in a good way – for three La Conner area firefighters Sunday. Skagit County Fire District 13 Chief Wood Weiss, Lt. Cole Harris and firefighter Kenna Barnes took part in the 32nd annual Firefighter Stair Climb at the Columbia Center, the tallest building in the Pacific Northwest, to raise funds for the Washington/Alaska chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The local trio scaled 69 floors and 788 feet of elevation – over 1,300 steps in all – while wearing bunker...
During a week in late February which saw snow, wind and rain amid occasional sun breaks, Town officials and residents turned their attention to climate change. At the Town Council Feb. 28 meeting, members and Mayor Ramon Hayes lauded the community’s embrace of solar energy and progress made in establishing a Town Emergency Management Commission in response to recent saltwater flooding, a perfect storm weather. event A joint session with the planning commission was short, consisting almost entirely of planning staff outlining the two-year p...
Outgoing four-term Mayor Ramon Hayes cited three major challenges La Conner faces in the decade ahead in remarks at the annual Rotary Club merchants and farmers dinner at Maple Hall Monday night. Turns out, the hosts have a time-honored three-word blueprint for meeting those pending multi-million dollar tests. Service above self. That has been their credo since the club was chartered in August 1945. And it reflects the sense of teamwork Hayes says is needed to address pressing water, sewer and...
Officials took the first steps toward updating La Conner’s comprehensive plan at a joint Town Council-Planning Commission meeting at Maple Hall Feb. 28. Admittedly, they were baby steps. It will be a two-year process focusing on public engagement and addressing growth over a 20-year planning horizon as mandated by state legislation, planner Michael Davolio reported. “Our first priority,” stressed Davolio, “is to engage the public in the process. It’s very critical from our perspective that the plan addresses the community’s values.” A...
Having recently celebrated its golden anniversary, La Conner Marina is looking to remain a bright shining light on the local scene well into the future. The Port of Skagit marked a major milestone by completing upgrades to LED lighting at the marina, Port Communications Director Linda Tyler said Thursday. “While the Port’s maintenance teams have been upgrading all Port facilities to LED lighting as needed when old lights burn out,” said Tyler, “a proactive and complete upgrade at the marina began in earnest several months ago to take advanta...
The high school girls' basketball team saved its best for last in Spokane last week. The sixth-seeded Lady Braves, fueled by a monster second half from game-high scorer Ellie Marble, erased a 10-point fourth quarter deficit to beat Adna 52-46 Saturday morning to claim fourth place at the Washington state 2B Hardwood Classic. Down 39-29 early in the final stanza, the team staged an improbable comeback to match the team's finish at Spokane last year. "It was fantastic and so much fun," said first...
Public education has evolved far beyond the traditional three r’s – readin’, ritin’ and ‘rithmetic. At La Conner Schools three other letters – C, T and E – are helping spell success for students. CTE is the abbreviation for Career Technical Education, an increased district emphasis the past few years, most notably Daniel Castillo’s home construction class that is building a tiny house. The program’s mission hasn’t gone unnoticed. The La Conner Rotary Club donated $1,000 to the district’s CTE curriculum, gratefully accepted by school bo...
Disney and magic are synonymous. As are La Conner artist Bob Abrams and the famed mass media and entertainment conglomerate he first dreamt of joining as a pre-teen. So, it came as little surprise that Abrams, the 93-year-old former Disney illustrator, was able to work some magic of his own at the La Conner Swinomish Library last Wednesday. Abrams, a Pittsburgh native who grew up admiring the legendary Walt Disney, somehow managed to shoehorn his long and storied career into an extended...
Dave and Lynette Cram caught themselves coming and going at the La Conner school board meeting Monday night. The couple traded places as district leaders when Lynette Cram stepped down after eight years on the board and David Cram was hired as the new La Conner Schools deputy superintendent of finance, human resources and operations. The board's senior member, Cram resigned to avoid possible conflict-of-interest issues with her husband returning for his second tour as the school's fiscal chief....
Few in La Conner can remember saltwater flooding as severe as Dec. 27’s, causing nearly $2 million in damages and directly impacting two dozen residences and six businesses. Yet it was not dire enough to merit a formal Federal Emergency Management Agency declaration of emergency. And that means federal reimbursement will not be made available to those in La Conner and elsewhere in Skagit County who suffered flood damage caused by a “perfect storm” of events – seasonal king tides, low atmospheric pressure and strong westerly winds. Unfortu...
About 100 Shelter Bay residents attended the latest in a series of monthly one-hour town hall forums at the community’s clubhouse Sunday night, where a wide range of topics – including recent sanctions imposed on two board members – were addressed. Other subjects covered in prior meetings, including perhaps the sorest of subjects – the unauthorized tree-cutting at Rainbow Park in 2020 that resulted in a stiff fine imposed by the Swinomish Tribal Community Planning Department – were discussed as well. So, too, was the status of Shelter B...
Town officials have cited public engagement as a top priority going forward. Attendees at the Feb. 22 La Conner Planning Commission hybrid meeting at Maple Hall took them at their word. Much of the 45-minute session was devoted to public comments, with residents voicing concerns with Hearing Examiner David Lowell’s Feb. 8 decision to deny the appeal of a conditional use permit granted for a condominium complex at 306 Center Street behind The Slider Café. Georgia Johnson, a Center Street property owner, joined others in raising environmental is...
Despite a 10 a.m. tipoff, the clock struck midnight on the Cinderella La Conner Braves in Auburn Saturday. The No. 10 Chief Leschi Warriors clinched a berth at the Spokane Arena this week by defeating 15th seeded La Conner 68-41 in a loser-out state regional matchup. The Braves, who had upset bi-district favorites Auburn Adventist and Coupeville the week before, fell to a talented Chief Leschi team that controlled tempo throughout with a stifling full-court press, crisp transition game and...
The Slider Café is a family restaurant in more than name only. The Morris Street diner, known to locals for its friendly small-town ambiance and mission to "feed the hangry," is no mere workplace for its staff. It is truly home. Owner Pat Ball not only gave his employees paid vacation last month, but closed the café for two weeks so that they could attend the Lake Tahoe wedding of two of their own – cook/kitchen manager Levi Howell and server/dining area manager Kimberly Bonilla. "Pat wan...
The La Conner Town Council met on Valentine’s Day, then its leaders looked for some love from state lawmakers in Olympia later in the week. A Town delegation met with state Reps. Dave Paul and Clyde Shavers and the staff of Sen. Ron Muzzall to discuss flood management measures and other key local issues, including increased funding for law enforcement. By all accounts, it was a positive dialogue with the District 10 legislators. It left Town officials hopeful yet more productive talks will take place. “I think it went well,” Town Admin...
